Apply the first extraction move to the two outer occurrences of , then cyclically rotate the word to expose the two occurrences of :In the third line the repeated letter for the move is , and the intervening string is , whose inverse is . Rename as a new edge label. The final word has the standard form .
Each same-direction repeated pair represents a projective-plane summand, so the classification theorem for surfaces identifies this word with the connected sum of three real projective planes:Thus the surface has crosscap number three. As a check, the original identifications make all six polygon vertices equivalent, leaving one vertex, three edges and one face. Its Euler characteristic is , consistent with that crosscap count.
The classification theorem for surfaces states that every connected closed combinatorial surface is homeomorphic to exactly one of:
- the two-sphere;
- an orientable surface of orientable genus , the connected sum of tori;
- a nonorientable surface of crosscap number , the connected sum of real projective planes.
The orientable family has Euler characteristic ; the nonorientable family has Euler characteristic . Orientability together with Euler characteristic distinguishes the entries.
Boundary words giving the required polygonal schemas areA two-sided polygon here means a disk with its boundary split into two arcs; subdivision produces an ordinary polygon with more sides without changing the quotient. Alternatively the square word represents the sphere. Each four-letter block in the orientable word adds a torus handle; each repeated-letter block in the nonorientable word adds a projective-plane summand.