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Real line bundles over a paracompact space are classified up to isomorphism by their first Stiefel–Whitney class in $H^1(X;{\mathbb{F}}_2)$. Tensor product corresponds to addition of classes.

For a real line bundle, the mod-two Euler class is its top Stiefel–Whitney class, namely $w_1(L)\in H^1(X;{\mathbb{F}}_2)$. Its evaluation on a closed curve records whether parallel transport reverses the fiber orientation.

The zero section $C=\{t=0\}\subset M$ is a circle. Its normal bundle is the real line bundle obtained fromso its clutching map reverses sign once around $C$. Its mod-two Euler class of a real line bundle, equivalently its first Stiefel–Whitney class, therefore satisfiesIf $M$ were orientable, the splittingand the orientation of the circle would orient ${\nu }_C$, forcing this mod-two Euler number to vanish. This contradiction proves that the Möbius band is nonorientable.