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Use the same $4\times 4$ square grid with four centre-based triangles per small square, but identify boundary points byThis gives the real projective plane. To see the model explicitly, a radial homeomorphism from the square, centred at $(1/2,1/2)$, to the closed disc carries the boundary involution to the antipodal map. The map from that disc to the projective planeis continuous and surjective: every one-dimensional vector subspace of ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ has a unit vector representative in the closed upper hemisphere. Its only identifications are antipodal boundary points. The compact-to-Hausdorff continuous bijection theorem therefore identifies this disc quotient space with ${\mathbb{RP}}^2$.

The square triangulation descends to an abstract simplicial complex $K_2$. Small-square centres remain distinct interior vertices; each triangle has one centre and two adjacent grid vertices. Boundary pairings identify whole grid edges, while preserving distinct vertices in each triangle, so this is a finite triangulation of the real projective plane. Its counts are $33$ vertices, $96$ edges and $64$ triangles, giving Euler characteristic one.

Choose $\sigma$ to be the interior triangle with vertices $(1/4,1/4)$, $(1/2,1/4)$ and $(3/8,3/8)$. Removing its relative interior and cutting from $(0,0)$ to $(1/4,1/4)$ gives the same nine-sided cut disc as before. Parametrize it by a convex polygon, transporting the boundary identifications. Its boundary word is nowThe boundary involution pairs the two $a$ sides and the two $b$ sides in matching traversal directions; the $c$ pair restores the slit. Leave $d,e,f$ unpaired. The quotient space isthe real projective plane with an open disc removed. In particular it is a compact connected surface with boundary consisting of one three-edge circle.

We construct both the required triangulation and its polygonal schema. Subdivide the square $Q=[0,1{]}^2$ into a $4\times 4$ grid. Insert the centre of each small square and join it by line segments to its four corners, making four triangles per small square. Identify opposite sides of $Q$ by translations: $(0,t)\sim (1,t)$ and $(t,0)\sim (t,1)$. This is the standard quotient space presentation of the torus.

The grid and centre vertices, with these identifications, define an abstract simplicial complex $K_1$. Every triangle contains its own small-square centre and two consecutive grid vertices, so no triangle has identified vertices and no distinct triangles acquire the same vertex set. Only intended common sides or vertices are shared. Thus this is a genuine finite triangulation, whose geometric realization is homeomorphic to $T^2$. There are $32$ vertices, $96$ edges and $64$ triangles, giving Euler characteristic zero.

Choose the simplex $\tau$ represented in the interior of $Q$ by the triangle with verticesRemove its relative interior. Before identifying the square's sides, the remainder is a closed disc with a triangular hole, hence an annulus. Cut this annulus along the line segment from $(0,0)$ to $(1/4,1/4)$, treating the two banks as distinct boundary arcs. The cut space is a closed disc; traversing its boundary follows the four outer edges, one bank, the three inner edges, and the other bank. It therefore has nine marked boundary sides.

A homeomorphism from this cut disc to a convex nine-sided polygon can be chosen to carry its nine marked sides to the nine polygon sides. One justification is to choose a boundary homeomorphism with the prescribed marked vertices and extend it over the disc by radial extension after disc parametrizations. Transport the identifications to this convex polygon. With labels recording traversal direction, its boundary word isIdentify equally labelled sides in their arrow directions: the two $a$ sides and two $b$ sides restore the torus pairings, while the two $c$ sides undo the cut. Leave $d,e,f$ unpaired. Their union is the triangular boundary of the removed simplex. The resulting quotient space is exactlyThis is the polygonal presentation of a punctured surface. The word supplies all nine sides and every gluing; inverse exponents reverse the boundary traversal direction.

A piecewise linear ball is a simplicial complex admitting a homeomorphism to an $n$-simplex that is linear on the simplexes of suitable finite simplicial subdivisions. Its boundary is a piecewise linear sphere.

Start with a polygonal disk and pair all its sides, specifying for each pair a homeomorphism matching endpoints. Arrow labels encode whether each occurrence is traversed with or against its assigned direction. Form the quotient topology using those identifications and no extra identifications in the interior. Matched edge interior points have disk neighbourhoods formed from two half-disks; the corner sectors around each identified vertex form a circular link. The quotient is therefore a closed surface. A boundary word records each edge label exactly twice. Its endpoint identifications determine the vertex count, while its signs determine orientability. This encoding is distinct from treating a side-paired polygon as an abstract simplicial complex; a compatible subdivision is needed for a simplicial triangulation.

An abstract simplicial complex is a pair $K=(V,\Sigma )$, where $V$ is a set of vertices of a simplicial complex and $\Sigma$ is a collection of finite nonempty subsets, called simplexes. Every singleton $\{v\}$ belongs to $\Sigma$, and every nonempty subset of a simplex is a simplex. Its dimension is the supremum of $|\sigma |-1$ over $\sigma \in \Sigma$. Some conventions also include an empty simplex; it contributes no points to the geometric realization.

A simplicial homeomorphism is the homeomorphism of geometric realizations induced by an isomorphism of simplicial complexes: a bijection of their vertex sets such that a finite vertex set is a simplex exactly when its image is a simplex. The map acts linearly in each barycentric coordinate system. It and its inverse are continuous by the realization topology. Between the boundaries of two triangles, any bijection of the three vertices extends linearly on edges to a simplicial homeomorphism. This ensures that the edge identifications agree at common endpoints.

A simplicial subcomplex $L\subseteq K$ is a subfamily that is itself a simplicial complex. In particular, every face of a simplex in $L$ also lies in $L$.

A simplicial subdivision replaces the simplexes of a simplicial complex by finitely many smaller simplexes with the same underlying space, compatibly on common faces. A piecewise linear ball can be parametrized by a map linear on the simplexes after appropriate subdivisions of its domain and target.

On vertices $1,\dots ,6$, take the simplicial complex generated by $123,124,135,146,156,236,245,256,345,346$. Every edge occurs in two facets. The vertex links, listed cyclically, are $23564$, $13654$, $12645$, $12536$, $13426$, and $14325$, respectively. Thus each vertex link is a cycle graph, and the realization is a compact connected surface without boundary. Its Euler characteristic is $6-15+10=1$, so the classification theorem for surfaces identifies it with the real projective plane. All fifteen possible edges occur, and the listed triangles are distinct three-element sets, so this is an honest abstract simplicial complex, not merely a polygon presentation.

The boundary simplicial complex of the cross-polytope has vertices $\pm e_i$, and its faces choose at most one vertex from each opposite pair. Radial projection identifies its geometric realization with the round sphere $S^n$. It is a regular antipodal triangulation of a sphere and is useful as a target for signed vertex labels: a vertex map is a simplicial map precisely when no edge receives opposite labels.

A triangulation of a topological space is a homeomorphism from the realization of a simplicial complex to that space. In three-manifold topology, thickening its one-skeleton and the dual one-skeleton constructs a Heegaard splitting.

An element of the underlying vertex set of an abstract simplicial complex; a simplex is a finite subset of these vertices. In a barycentric subdivision, the vertices are nonempty simplices of the original complex.

The topological realization of a simplicial complex with infinitely many vertices is not compact. Its vertex open star in a simplicial complex form an open cover, but a vertex belongs only to its own star. Thus every finite collection of vertex stars omits all the other vertices. The argument uses the weak topology of a simplicial realization, in which a vertex star is open because its complement is the realization of the subcomplex of simplices missing that vertex. No local finiteness assumption is required.