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For another example, any convex polyhedron is homeomorphic to the three-dimensional ball, so its surface is homeomorphic (hence homotopy equivalent) to the two-dimensional sphere, which has Euler characteristic 2. This explains why the surface of a convex polyhedron has Euler characteristic 2.
The non-orientable genus, demigenus, or Euler genus of a connected, non-orientable closed surface is a positive integer representing the number of cross-caps attached to a sphere. Alternatively, it can be defined for a closed surface in terms of the Euler characteristic χ, via the relationship χ = 2 − k, where k is the non-orientable genus.
The five Platonic solids have an Euler characteristic of 2. This simply reflects that the surface is a topological 2-sphere, and so is also true, for example, of any polyhedron which is star-shaped with respect to some interior point.
The Euler characteristic of the real projective plane is 1, and in general the Euler characteristic of the connected sum of k of them is 2 − k. It follows that a closed surface is determined, up to homeomorphism, by two pieces of information: its Euler characteristic, and whether it is orientable or not.
The odd–even condition follows from Euler's formula. Any simplicial generalized homology sphere is an Eulerian lattice. Let L be a regular cell complex such that | L | is a manifold with the same Euler characteristic as the sphere of the same dimension (this condition is vacuous if the dimension is odd).
We can immediately use this fact to compute the homology of a sphere. We can realize as the quotient of an n-disk by its boundary, i.e. = /. Applying the exact sequence of relative homology gives the following:
Thus the Euler class is a generalization of the Euler characteristic to vector bundles other than tangent bundles. In turn, the Euler class is the archetype for other characteristic classes of vector bundles, in that each "top" characteristic class equals the Euler class, as follows. Modding out by 2 induces a map
In calculating the Euler characteristic of S′ we notice the loss of e P − 1 copies of P above π(P) (that is, in the inverse image of π(P)). Now let us choose triangulations of S and S′ with vertices at the branch and ramification points, respectively, and use these to compute the Euler characteristics.