Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ii / Paper 4 / 21F / b

Let $T$ be the surface with boundary obtained by deleting the interiors of the $n$ disks. By excision,so $H_2(S,T)\cong {\mathbb{Z}}^n$ and the other relative groups vanish. In the long exact sequence in relative homology, the mapsends an orientation class to $(1,\dots ,1)$, up to an overall choice of sign. It is therefore injective and has cokernel ${\mathbb{Z}}^{n-1}$. Exactness gives $H_2(T)=0$ and a short exact sequenceThis sequence splits because its right-hand group is a free abelian group. Since $T$ is connected, we obtain