Simplicial Homology.

I
Algebraic Topology (MATH 60323)

Qiao Zhang, Department of Mathematics

Texas Christian University

1 Simplexes
Let n ≥ 0, let N ≥ n + 1, and let v0 , . . . , vn ∈ RN at generic positions,
namely with the difference vectors v1 − v0 , . . . , vn − v0 linearly independent,
then the convex hull
 
t0 ≥ 0, . . . , tn ≥ 0
[v0 , . . . , vn ] = t0 v0 + t1 v1 + · · · + tn vn
t0 + t1 + · · · + tn = 1
is called an n-simplex ; in this case, every vi is called a vertex of the simplex, simplex
and the integer n is called the dimension of the simplex. vertex
Remark 1.1. Sometimes it is also convenient to define the empty set ∅ as the dimension
(−1)-simplex.
Remark 1.2. For every point v ∈ [v0 , . . . , vn ], say of form
v = t0 v0 + t1 v1 + · · · + tn vn
the (n + 1)-uple (t0 , . . . , tn ) is called its barycentric coordinate. Physically, barycen-
assume that we place an object of mass ti at the point vi , then v is the center tric
of mass for the system. coordi-
nate
Example 1.3. Let n ≥ 0, let
e0 = (1, 0, . . . , 0) ∈ Rn+1 e1 = (0, 1, . . . , 0) ∈ Rn+1 ... en = (0, 0, . . . , 1) ∈ Rn+1
be the standard basis of Rn+1 , then the n-simplex in Rn+1 formed by the
unit vectors
∆n =[e0 , e1 , . . . , en ]
 
t0 ≥ 0, . . . , tn ≥ 0
= (t0 , t1 , . . . , tn ) ∈ Rn+1
t0 + t1 + · · · + tn = 1

1
is called the standard n-simplex . In particular, we have standard
n-simplex
∆0 = {1} ∂∆0 = ∅ ˚ 0 = ∆0
∆

Let ∆ = [v0 , . . . , vn ] be an n-simplex, and let 0 ≤ i ≤ n, then the (n − 1)-

simplex
 
 t0 ≥ 0, . . . , tn ≥ 0 
[v0 , . . . , vi−1 , v̂i , vi+1 , . . . , vn ] = t0 v0 + t1 v1 + · · · + tn vn ∈ ∆ t0 + t1 + · · · + tn = 1
ti = 0
 

is called its i-th face. Further, face

1. the union of all the faces is called the boundary of the simplex ∆ and boundary
denoted by ∂∆;
˚ = open sim-
2. the interior of ∆ is called the open simplex and is denoted by ∆
∆ \ ∂∆. plex

Remark 1.4. In a simplex, every ordering of its vertexes is called an ori-

entation of the simplex; in this case, the simplex is called oriented . Two orienta-
orientations of the same simplex are regarded the same if and only if the two tion
orderings differ from each other by an even permutation. oriented
By restriction, the orientation of a simplex in turn determines orientations
on all the facets.

2 Simplicial Complexes and Triangulations

Every finite set K of simplexes is called a simplicial complex if simplicial
complex
1. every faces of every simplex in K is also in K;

2. the nonempty intersection of every pair of simplexes in K is a common

face of them.
In this case,
(
−1, if K = ∅;
dim K =
max {dim[s] | [s] ∈ K} , if K 6= ∅

is called the dimension of the simplicial complex. dimension

2
Remark 2.1. By definition, in a simplicial complex, every n-simplex has n+1
distinct vertexes, and no other n-simplex has this same set of vertices.
Let K be a simplicial complex, then the topological space
[
|K| = [s]
[s]∈K]

endowed with the induced topology from the embedded Euclidean space,
is called the corresponding polyhedron; in this case, the dimension of K is polyhe-
also called the dimension of |K|. In general, a topological space X is called dron
triangulable if there exists a simplicial complex K and a homeomorphism dimension
f : |K| → X. In this case, the pair (K, f ) is called a triangulation, or a triangula-
ble
simplicial subdivision, of X.
triangula-
tion
simplicial
3 Simplicial Homology subdivi-
sion
Theorem 3.1. Let K be a simplicial complex and let
X
Cn (K) = Z[v0 , . . . , vn ]
[v0 ,...,vn ]∈K

n
X
∂n : Cn (K) → Cn−1 (K) [v0 , . . . , vn ] 7→ (−1)i [v0 , . . . , v̂i , . . . , vn ]
i=0

Then the sequence C(K) given by

∂n+1 n∂ 2 1 ∂ 0 ∂ ∂
· · · → Cn+1 (K) −−−→ Cn (K) −→ Cn−1 (K) → . . . −
→ C1 (K) −
→ C0 (K) −
→ 0

is a chain complex, called the simplicial chain complex of K. In this case, simplicial
the corresponding homology group chain
complex
Hn (K) = Ker ∂n / Img ∂n+1

is called the n-th simplicial homology group of K. simplicial

homology
Remark 3.2. In the above theorem, the group Cn (K) is called the n-th sim- group
plicial chain group of X, and every element in Cn (K) is called a simplicial simplicial
n-chain. chain
group
simplicial
3 n-chain
Remark 3.3. By convention, the 0-th boundary homomorphism ∂0 : ∆0 (K) →
0 is the zero map.
Remark 3.4. Heuristically, the signs in the definition of the boundary homo-
morphism are inserted to take orientations into account, so that all the faces
of a simplex are coherently oriented.
Theorem 3.5. Let X be a triangulable space, and let K and K0 be two
triangulations of X. Then we have
Hn (K) ∼
= Hn (K0 ) (n ≥ 0)
Remark 3.6. By the theorem, the simplicial homology group Hn (K) is inde-
pendent of the choice of the triangulation K but is uniquely determined by
the space X up to isomorphism. Hence the isomorphism of the simplicial
homology group Hn (K) is also called the simplicial homology group of the simplicial
space X, denoted by Hn (X). homology
group

4 Summary
In this class, we have learned to
1. determine the triangulations on given topological spaces;
2. compute simplicial homologies for given topological spaces.
Today’s homework assignments are the following problems. The due date
is March 29.
Exercise 4.1. Let n ≥ 1. Construct a triangulation of S n , and justify your
claim.
Exercise 4.2. A triangulation of the torus T 2 has 9 vertexes, 27 edges and
18 triangles, as given below
a1 a2 a3 a1

a8 a9
a7 a7

a5 a6
a4 a4

a1 a2 a3 a1

4
Explain why the division below, although simpler, is not a triangulation.
a1 a2 a3 a1

a5 a6
a4 a4

a1 a2 a3 a1

Exercise 4.3. Prove Theorem 3.1, namely prove that ∂n−1 ∂n = 0 on Cn (K).

Exercise 4.4. Compute the simplicial homology H∗ (S 1 ) with respect to the

following triangulation.

v1

K = {[v0 ], [v1 ], [v2 ], [v3 ], [v0 , v1 ],

v2 v0
[v0 , v2 ], [v0 , v3 ], [v1 , v2 ], [v1 , v3 ], [v2 , v3 ]}

v3