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An element killed by the next differential of a cochain complex. Its class modulo coboundaries is a cohomology class.

The exterior derivative is an $\mathbb{R}$-linear map $d:{\Omega }^p(M)\to {\Omega }^{p+1}(M)$, agrees with the differential $df$ of a smooth function, satisfies the graded Leibniz rule $d(\alpha \wedge \beta )=d\alpha \wedge \beta +(-1{)}^p\alpha \wedge d\beta$ for $\alpha \in {\Omega }^p(M)$, and has $d^2=0$. These properties determine it locally and hence globally. To see locality directly, if a differential form $\alpha$ vanishes near $x$, choose a smooth bump function $\chi$ equal to one near $x$ and supported where $\alpha =0$. The identity $d(\chi \alpha )=d\chi \wedge \alpha +\chi d\alpha$ gives $(d\alpha {)}_x=0$. Thus global forms can be computed using local extensions in a manifold chart.

In coordinates write $\alpha ={\sum }_I{a}_{I}d{x}^{i_1}\wedge \cdots \wedge d{x}^{i_p}$. Since $d(d{x}^i)=d^2{x}^i=0$, the graded Leibniz rule forcesThis is the uniqueness of the exterior derivative from its axioms. The coordinate formula also establishes existence: it has the stated properties, and the chain rule shows that coordinate changes give the same operator.

The de Rham cohomology is the real quotient vector spaceThus a cohomology class records a closed differential form modulo an exact differential form. In degree zero there are no exact forms; closed functions are locally constant. The Poincare lemma says that every closed form of positive degree on a star-shaped open subset of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ is exact, and hence that positive-degree closed forms are locally exact on a smooth manifold.

For the first de Rham cohomology of the two-sphere, let $U=S^2\setminus \{N\}$ and $V=S^2\setminus \{S\}$. Stereographic projection identifies each with ${\mathbb{R}}^2$, so a closed one-form $\alpha$ has primitives $f_U,f_V$. On the connected overlap $U\cap V$, the derivative of $f_U-f_V$ is zero, so this difference is a constant. Subtracting that constant from $f_U$ makes the primitives agree. They glue to a global smooth primitive. Therefore $H_{\mathrm{dR}}^1(S^2)=0$.

Let $q:S^2\to {\mathbb{RP}}^2$ be the double covering map and $a$ the antipodal map. The pullback of a differential form identifies forms downstairs with $a$-invariant forms upstairs. Averaging $(\eta +a^{\ast }\eta )/2$ commutes with $d$. If an invariant form is exact upstairs, averaging its primitive proves it exact downstairs. Conversely an invariant cohomology class has an invariant representative by the same averaging. This proves the de Rham cohomology of a finite quotient identification $H_{\mathrm{dR}}^p({\mathbb{RP}}^2)\cong H_{\mathrm{dR}}^p(S^2{)}^{a^{\ast }}$. In degree zero the sphere is connected and $a^{\ast }$ fixes constants; degree one is zero; in degree two the granted action is multiplication by $-1$, whose invariant real subspace is zero. Forms of degree greater than two vanish. HenceThis is real de Rham cohomology; it does not detect the integral two-torsion of the real projective plane.