Legendre’s proof of Euler’s Theorem

Topology MA 434/542 Fall 2006

Abhijit Champanerkar
November 5, 2006

In this note we will describe Legendre’s proof of Euler’s Theorem.

Euler’s Theorem
A polyhedron is a solid in R3 whose faces are polygons. A polyhedron P is
convex if the line segment joining any two points in P is entirely contained in
P . The platonic solids are examples of convex polyhedra. The solid bounded
by the co-ordinate planes and the plane x + y + z = 1 in the first octant is
also a convex polyhedron.

Euler’s Theorem. Let P be a convex polyhedron. Let v be the number of

vertices, e be the number of edges and f be the number of faces of P . Then
v−e+f = 2

Some Spherical Geometry

Let the sphere S 2 denote the set of all unit vectors in R3 . A great circle in
S 2 is a circle which divides the sphere in half. In other words, a great circle
is the interesection of S 2 with a plane passing through the origin. Given two
distinct points on S 2 , there is a great circle passing through them obtained
by the intersection of S 2 with the plane passing through the origin and the
two given points. Great circles play the role of straight lines in spherical
geometry. Any two distinct great circles intersect in two points which are
negatives of each other and can be thought of as the poles of S 2 . The angle
between two great circles at an intersection point is the angle between their

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 Figure 1: Great circles and diangles

respective planes. A region bounded by two great circles is called a diangle.

See Figure 1. Note that a diangle has two edges, two vertices and the angles
at both the vertices are equal. A spherical polygon is a polygon on S 2 whose
sides are parts of great circles.

Lemma 1. Let θ be the angle of a diangle. Then the area of the diangle is
2θ.

Proof: The area of the diangle is proportional to its angle. Since the area
of the sphere, which is a diangle of angle 2π, is 4π, the area of the diangle is
2θ. Alternatively, one can compute
p this area directly as the area of a surface
of revolution of thepcurve z = 1 − y 2 by an angle θ. This area is given by
R1
the integral −1 θz 1 + (z ′ )2 dy. 

Theorem 1. The area of a spherical triangle with angles α, β and γ is α +

β + γ − π.

Proof: △ABC as shown in Figure 2 is formed by the intersection of three

great circles. Let the angles at vertices A, B and C be α, β and γ respectively.
Since the vertices A and D lie on the intersection of the same great circles
they are negatives of (antipodal to) each other and have the same angle.
Similarly for vertices B, E and C, F . Hence the triangles △ABC and △DEF
are antipodal (opposite) triangles and have the same area. Let RAD denote
the union of the pair of diangles which intersect each other in points A and D
and contain both the triangles. Similarly let RBE and RCF denote the other

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 E

Figure 2: Spherical triangle

pairs of diangles. RAD , RBE , RCF mutually intersect in △ABC and △DEF .
Hence △ABC and △DEF get counted three times each in RAD ∪RBE ∪RCF .
See Figure 3. Since RAD ∪ RBE ∪ RCF = S 2

Area(S 2 ) = Area(RAD ) + Area(RBE ) + Area(RCF ) − 4Area(△ABC)

By Lemma 1

4π = 4α + 4β + 4γ − 4Area(△ABC)
Area(△ABC) = α + β + γ − π


Corollary 1. Let R be a spherical polygon with n vertices and n sides with
interior angles α1 , . . . , αn . Then Area(R) = α1 + . . . + αn − (n − 2)π.
Proof: Any polygon with n sides for n ≥ 4 can be divided into n − 2
triangles. The result follows as the angles of these triangles add up to the
interior angles of the polygon. 

Legendre’s Proof of Euler’s Theorem

Let P be a convex polyhedron in R3 . We can divide S 2 into spherical polygons
such that S 2 with this subdivision looks like the boundary of P blown up
like a balloon. This can be done rigourously as follows. Arrange P so that

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the origin lies in the interior of P . Project the boundary of P on S 2 using
the function f (x, y, z) = √ (x,y,z)
2 2 2
. Its easy to check that vertices of P go
x +y +z
to points on S 2 , edges go to parts of great circles and faces go to spherical
polygons. Since P is convex, f gives a homeomorphism from the boundary
of P to S 2 .
Let v, e and f denote the number of vertices, edges and faces of P respectively.
Let R1 , . . . , Rf be the spherical polygons on S 2 . Since their union is S 2 ,
Area(R1 ) + . . . + Area(Rf ) = Area(S 2 ). Let ni be the number of edges of Ri
and αij for j = 1, . . . , ni be its interior angles. Corollary 1 implies that
f ni
X X
( αij − ni π + 2π) = 4π
i=1 j=1
f X
X ni f
X f
X
αij − ni π + 2π = 4π
i=1 j=1 i=1 i=1

Since every edge is shared by two polygons

f
X
ni π = 2πe.
i=1

Since the sum of angles at every vertex is 2π

f ni
X X
αij = 2πv.
i=1 j=1

Hence 2πv − 2πe + 2πf = 4π that is v − e + f = 2 

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Figure 3: Sphere and 3 pairs of diangles