A canonical presentation of a group uses a symbol for each and relations for every pair. Evaluation to is surjective, and is its inverse homomorphism; the relation with implies . Thus this presentation recovers any group.
The pushout of the two homomorphisms is
Here is the free product, and the denominator is the normal closure. Its canonical maps satisfy . The universal property says that maps agreeing on factor uniquely as for one homomorphism . The free-product universal property first gives the map before quotienting, and agreement makes it kill precisely the imposed relations, proving this property.
Suppose is generated by , and are finite presentations with disjoint generator sets. Choose words representing . Then
Agreement on these generators implies agreement on every word in , so these finitely many extra relations suffice by the universal property. No finite presentation for is required.
The Seifert-van Kampen theorem states that for a space covered by path-connected open sets with path-connected nonempty intersection and basepoint in that intersection, is the pushout of .
To see the two bands in the Klein bottle model, take one region to be and the other to be the outer strips , , joined along the top-bottom identification. Each is an interval bundle over the horizontal circle, and going once around reverses its transverse coordinate. For the middle band use the coordinate ; for the outer band use the signed coordinate about zero modulo one. Both are therefore Möbius bands. Their common boundary is the one circle represented by the lines , joined at the identified vertical sides. They cover the whole bottle and are glued along that circle.
A Möbius band deformation retracts onto its core circle, so its fundamental group is infinite cyclic. Going once around its boundary traverses the core twice: one pass along one boundary edge changes sides, and the second pass returns. After choosing core generators and consistent boundary orientation, the two inclusion maps from the common circle send its generator to and . Thicken the bands slightly so their overlap is an annular neighbourhood of their common boundary. Seifert-van Kampen theorem then gives
Reversing a chosen generator absorbs an opposite boundary parametrization, so the presentation is independent of that sign choice.
Use compatible edge identifications: choose a bijection between the three boundary vertices of and those of , and extend it linearly on each edge. This defines a simplicial homeomorphism of the two boundary circles. This compatibility is the usual meaning of gluing the two boundary triangles; independently chosen edge reversals need not agree at their endpoints. The classification needed here is 3(a)(iv); the printed reference to 3(a)(iii) is a source error.
Delete the two triangular simplexes but retain all their proper faces of a simplex, and identify the two resulting boundary simplicial subcomplexes by this map. The result is a finite abstract simplicial complex : vertices from different sides are identified only in the boundary, and the only shared edges are boundary edges. There is no triangle consisting of all three boundary vertices after the two faces have been removed. Consequently no other simplexes become duplicates. Its geometric realization has the specified quotient topology and is homeomorphic to .
We check the closed combinatorial surface conditions. Away from the seam, vertex links of a simplex remain cycle graphs. At a boundary vertex of or , removing the face changes its link from a cycle graph to a graph path, with endpoints corresponding to its two boundary edges. Gluing the boundaries identifies the two paths' respective endpoints, making one cycle graph. Each seam edge now meets one triangle from and one from , and all other edges retain their original two incident triangles. Thus every vertex link is a cycle graph and every simplex lies in a triangle. The simplicial complex is connected, since the two connected punctured surfaces meet along their boundary circle. Hence is a closed combinatorial surface.
This construction is the connected sum of surfaces . For completeness, compute its Euler characteristic directly. Removing a triangular face while retaining its edges and vertices subtracts one, so
Gluing identifies three vertex pairs and three edge pairs, giving
For the explicit triangulations above, this is also .
Finally is a nonorientable surface. If were orientable, its restriction would make orientable. The consistent choices of orientation of a simplex on its triangles extend across a capping disc: choose the cap's orientation of a simplex so that the induced directions on the common boundary oppose. Capping by would therefore make the real projective plane orientable, a contradiction. The obstruction to orientability in the real projective plane can also be seen from a Möbius band neighbourhood of a projective line.
By the classification theorem for closed combinatorial surfaces, a nonorientable surface with Euler characteristic has , hence . Therefore
In a triangle whose two sides at an apex are glued with that apex fixed, cross-sections become circles and the apex becomes their cone point. This quotient is a disc. A second triangle with boundary word becomes a Möbius band after the sides are identified. Gluing the remaining boundary to the first disc caps the band and gives the real projective plane. The resulting two-face cell structure has two vertices, three edges and Euler characteristic one.
Untwisted band 2026-10-14
An untwisted band is the topological surface obtained from a rectangle by identifying with . It is the Cartesian product of a circle and a closed interval, and is homeomorphic to a closed annulus. A finite portion of the lateral surface of a circular cylinder realizes it in three-dimensional space. Its two boundary circles are and , and the matching seam directions make it an orientable surface. The Möbius band changes just one identification sign and loses both this two-component boundary and its orientability.