Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ii / Paper 3 / 18I / Solution

Use singular homology with integer coefficients. The Künneth theorem for triangulable spaces gives a split short exact sequence with tensor terms ${⨁}_{i+j=k}{H}_i(X)\otimes H_j(Y)$ and torsion terms ${⨁}_{i+j=k-1}{\mathrm{Tor}}_1(H_i(X),H_j(Y))$. When one factor's homology groups are free abelian, the torsion terms vanish and the tensor map is an isomorphism.

The circle has $H_0(S^1)=H_1(S^1)=\mathbb{Z}$ and all other groups zero. Inductively, the homology groups of a torus are free, andPascal's identity givesGeometrically the generators correspond to choosing $k$ of the $n$ circle factors and taking their product, consistent with the cellular model having one $k$-cell for each such subset and cancelling opposite boundary faces.