Alt text: If you ask a topologist what their house is like they start counting windows, doors, and chimneys.
That’s a three-holed sphere.
Is it? Like the person in the comic, I count four… one for the head, one for the legs, and one for each arm. Am I missing something?
(I don’t know if I’m not enough of a topologist to understand your joke … or too much of a topologist to understand your confusion.)
The hole for the legs isn’t a “real” hole as you can stretch/flatten the shape and it just becomes the edge. Like how a straw has one hole
Hmm. Your comment gave me something to think about. Now I’ve thought about it and done some research… I still think the comic is right, because it specifies a 4-holed sphere.
Here’s my thinking:
A sphere with two holes can be stretched into the shape of a drinking straw (or a donut, or a coffee cup). That same shape can be stretched into a disc with a single hole: one hole in the sphere becomes the outer boundary of the disc.
Likewise, a disc with three holes has the same topology as a sphere with four holes. (Or a dress, or a T-shirt.)
So yeah, you can say that a straw has one hole and a dress has three … but only when you’re counting holes in a disc.
This page shows the sphere/disc thing visually, and uses clothes as examples:
https://seattlemathmuseum.org/math-in-real-life/clothes-holes
Good point, I was missing the sphere aspect. In fairness, that undermines the joke as then the number of holes is the more common intuitive answer instead of something a topologist would come up with.
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Head hole
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Left arm hole
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Right arm hole
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Legs hole
Nope.
Consider a sphere with a single hole through it, like a bead. If this were scaled up appropriately, it could almost be worn as a dress, but one would have to keep their arms against their body. Two additional holes would need to be made on opposing sides, each connecting the exterior of the sphere to the hold on the inside. Thus, three holes.
You could say it’s two-holed. An x and y. A coathanger passes through x white capturing gravity at one of y’s entrances.
The thing about topology is that it’s a mathematical study. According to topology, a normal dress has 3 holes, no more or less. It’s an interesting area of study, although idk what the applications of it are irl.
I feel the same way about knot theory. Something I stumbled upon trying to see if there was a more efficient way to tie in for rock climbing.
It’s an entire full blown mathematical wonderland that further cemented that background thought of, "So simulation theory…still on?
Nope. That doesn’t make sense for a couple of reasons. Firstly, according to your reasoning there would be 2 holes, not 3. But more importantly, a single hole doesn’t go through two layers of fabric, a hole is any opening in a material. This becomes obvious if you think of a blanket instead of a dress. A blanket that has a hole in it is an opening in the single layer of material. A hole doesn’t have to go through 2 sides like a bead. Think of a water bottle - how many drinking holes does it have. Think of an intact balloon, and then you use a needle to pop a hole in it. Think of a bowling ball, it has 3 holes in it.
This isn’t just my opinion. Do a web search for yourself. Here are a few of the top results
https://www.distractify.com/p/how-many-holes-does-this-shirt-have-riddle
https://weverydaystories.com/how-many-openings-does-this-shirt-have/
Nope.
Topology is a field of mathematics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology
Topologically, this is a dress:
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