Some Exercises about cohomology

April 23, 2017

1. Suppose that W is a compact oriented n-manifold with boundary, let i :

W W be inclusion. If W is connected prove that i : H n1 (W )
H n1 (W ) is the zero map. Here you want to use that integration is
an isomorphism between H n1 (W ) and R.

2. Compute the cohomology of 1,2 and 2,1 . By this I mean the ori-
entable surface of genus one with two boundary components, and the
orientable surface of genus 2 with one boundary component.

3. Compute the cohomology of 2,0 by decomposing it as 2,0 {pt},

which is homotopy equivalent to 2,1 and an open disk about the point
you removed.

4. Give an inductive computation of the cohomology of n,1 by gluing 1,1

to n1,1 along arcs in their boundaries and smoothing.

5. Compute the cohomology of n,0 by generalizing the argument you

gave to compute 2,0 .

6. Given that RP (n) is orientable if and only if n is odd, and the nth
cohomology of an compact connected oriented n-manifold is R if it is
orientable and 0 if it is not orientable, give an inductive computation
of the cohomology of RP (n). Here you need to prove that RP (n)
{pt} is homotopy equivalent to RP (n 1), which is a nice exercise in
constructing continuous maps in the quotient topology.

7. The point of this exercise is to explicate the statement

Cohomology satisfies the inclusion exclusion principle.
Suppose that (C i , d) is a chain complex where the chain groups are all

1
finite dimensional vector spaces, and only finitely many Ci are nonzero.
The alternating sum of the dimensions of the P C i is called the Euler
characteristic of the chain complex. (C i , d) = i (1)i dimC i .
a. Prove that the alternating sum of the dimensions of the cohomology
groups of (C i , d) is equal to its Euler characteristic. That is,
X X
(1)i dimC i = (1)i dimH i ((C j , d)). (1)
i i

b. A long exact sequence of cohomology groups from the Mayer Vietors

sequence , of a space can be thought of as a chain complex. (As can
any long exact sequence.) Assuming that U , V , U V and U V all
have finite rank cohomology, prove that the Euler characteristic of the
Mayer-Vietoris sequence is zero. Conclude that the Euler characteristic
satisfies the inclusion exclusion principle

(U V ) = (U ) + (V ) (U V ). (2)