Paper 4, Section II, I

Algebraic Topology
Part II, 2017

Recall that RPn\mathbb{R} P^{n} is real projective nn-space, the quotient of SnS^{n} obtained by identifying antipodal points. Consider the standard embedding of SnS^{n} as the unit sphere in Rn+1\mathbb{R}^{n+1}.

(a) For nn odd, show that there exists a continuous map f:SnSnf: S^{n} \rightarrow S^{n} such that f(x)f(x) is orthogonal to xx, for all xSnx \in S^{n}.

(b) Exhibit a triangulation of RPn\mathbb{R} P^{n}.

(c) Describe the map Hn(Sn)Hn(Sn)H_{n}\left(S^{n}\right) \rightarrow H_{n}\left(S^{n}\right) induced by the antipodal map, justifying your answer.

(d) Show that, for nn even, there is no continuous map f:SnSnf: S^{n} \rightarrow S^{n} such that f(x)f(x) is orthogonal to xx for all xSnx \in S^{n}.