Impossible Worlds
Videogames, topology and combinatorics
Topology "=" Shapes
Combinatorics "=" Counting
Topology Joke
Henry Segerman
Videogames
Surface:
Locally looks 2-dimensional
Manifold:
Locally looks n-dimensional
Could they have made their videogame world a sphere?
Naive Question:
Refining the question
Videogame assumptions:
- Every region is a square
- Four regions meet at each point
New claim: we can't cut there sphere up so that properties 1+2 hold
We can cut the sphere into pieces:
What can we say about the number of vertices, edges and faces in a decomposition of the sphere?
Euler's Theorem:
Consider a connected graph drawn on the sphere, with v vertices, e edges, and f faces. Then :
v-e+f=2
To a new vertex:
Between existing vertices
- v increases by 1
- e increases by 1
- f remains unchanged
- v remains unchanged
- e increases by 1
- f increases by 1
Proof idea: Keep adding edges.
v-e+f doesn't change!
Return to the Torus Planet:
To show the designers couldn't have made a sphere, it's enough to prove their maps couldn't have v-e+f=2.
Need relations between v, e and f...
Count red arrows two ways
1. Every vertex has four arrows
2. Every edge has two arrows
So for a videogame graph, 4v=2e
Similar argument show that for a video game graph we have: 4f=2e
So 2v=e=2f
So v-e+f=v-2v+v=0
Violates Euler's Theorem!
Can finish our proof!
Homework:
Minilecture 2021
By Paul Johnson
Minilecture 2021
- 164