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How many holes does this shirt have?

Hint: you are probably wrong.

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Hint 

How many holes does a pipe have? How many holes does a cup have? Now use that logic and work backwards.

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Answer 

The answer is 7.

In math we count holes by using whats called Geometric Topology, which is really just a fancy way of describing an every day hole in a formal way.

The simplest way I can describe it without getting technical is if you take the shirt and stretch it and flatten it into a disc. That is, take the large opening at the bottom around your waist and stretch it out on a flat surface until it creates a flat dist where the opening around the waist is the outer perimeter of the disc.

At this point count the holes in the disc, you will count 7.

@schnappi @cee @naccy
@Warlock

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@naccy its simple once you realize the answer and why, but i expect most people will get it wrong until given the answer and explanation.

@Warlock

I suspect unless someone has a background in math, or is good at thinking about this in a more generalized way almost no one is going to get the correct answer.

There is a very formal definition for a hole, and as such a formal/technically correct answer. That said its something someone who doesnt know math could probably reason about if they are particularly good at spatial reasoning.

I am happy to give the answer in DM to anyone who asks.

@naccy

re: verifying answer 

@freemo it's probs not 2 if its based on the torn holes. its always gonna be "nah"

re: verifying answer 

@cee how many holes does a cup (no handle) have?

re: verifying answer 

@freemo there's always gonna be a "gotcha", like if i actually said 4 torn holes (2 on the front and 2 on the back), ur still gonna say "gotcha".

But the real truth is: there is no objective truth, truth is just an illusion, there has never been a "right" or "wrong" answer, each individual holds only a part of the "truth".

re: verifying answer 

@cee depends on what you call a gotcha. Like i said there is a formal/technical definition of a hole. This question is largely about understanding what that definition is then applying it.

I am happy to walk you through the logic if you want (thus why ia sked you about a cup)

re: verifying answer 

@freemo I just want headpats dammit >.<
i've already lost too many brain cells from my period of insomnia

re: verifying answer 

@cee hahaha ::pats you on the head:: Do you just want the answer then?

re: verifying answer 

@freemo thankuu uwu

tbh, everybody wants answers... except for me, i just came for the headpatss :bloblaugh:

re: verifying answer 

@cee hahah as you wish :) ::pats your head again::

Answer 

@freemo @cee @naccy @Warlock the problem is you can't see the back of the shirt, so what looks like two through-holes (two front, two back) may be only (two front, one back)

Answer 

@rchrd

That is of course a valid criticism. You would have to make an assumption there of course.

@cee @naccy @Warlock

Answer 

@freemo leave it to mathematicians to get a definition wrong... caves, pits and wells are all holes, what your geniuses of topology actually mean is a through-hole.

@schnappi @cee @naccy @Warlock

Answer 

@freemo
I counted 8...
I made like if i could put it on a sphere, and counted holes..
Is that wrong ?

@freemo An exact answer is impossible, whether intuitively or topologically. You didn't show us the whole shirt...

@b6hydra fair point. You can make the assumption there are no tricks here and both holes are through holes and there are no hidden holes.

Answer 

@freemo Ohhh. 7... Is there a word for when you get tricked by the absence of a trick? Or is it just stupidity πŸ˜…

@freemo 8, because we count each normal hole, plus the tears twice since they go all the way through, or 4 if you don't count the sleeve, neck and waist holes since they're meant to be there.

discussion of answer. 

@freemo I saw the answer. Interesting, but not really relevant to how we view objects when interacting with them normally.

discussion of answer. 

@Zest well how would you define a hole? just as an opening?

discussion of answer. 

@freemo I think it depends on the type of thing. Like you implied, a pipe only has one hole, because it goes all the way through, but if the pipe splits and has 4 ends, I'd start thinking it has 4 holes, and that way of thinking would mean that a normal pipe with an unknown number of split paths could have 1 hole or 3, but never 2.
Which is exactly why I think the mathematical definition you're using is necessary. But still not really how we intuitively label holes.

discussion of answer. 

@Zest a hole does indeed to bo all the way through but even in the case of the pipe thinking of it in the same way as the shirt. Take one of the two openings ans stretch it out really big until the pipe becomes a flat disc... you will have a disc with one hold in it. One of the openings is the hole, the other is the outside perimeter of the disc.

Now do the same with your 4-way pipe. Take an arbitrary openening and stretch it out and try to flatten the whole thing into a disc again. You're 4 way pipe has 3 holes.

The reason id say its easy to reason about is because flattening out any case to a disc will always reveal the answer.

that said i do agree you can make up your own "intuitive" definition of a hole that is wrong according to the technical one. But in all liklihood such a definition will be contradictory or break apart in many circumstances.

discussion of answer. 

@freemo of course, that's also why I pointed out one big flaw in how I intuitively think about it with things like pipes.
There's another difference with what you'd intuitively call a hole too, for example if you dug a pit which was 6 feet deep and 2 feet in diameter almost anyone would agree that that's a hole. But in these geometric terms that wouldn't work at all.

discussion of answer. 

@Zest you are absolutely correct.. .but in a sense if you stretch your imagination a bit you can see why...

The language could be seen as saying "a hole in the surface of the ground".. if you consider the surface of the earth as a 2d plane when when you dig a hole its sort of a hole in that plain.... yes its a bit of a cop out and a stretch and your right it isnt really a hole. But it makes some sort of linguistic sense I think.

@freemo

no holes since its just light coming from my monitor.

@freemo Im using the 1. def coming up in duckduck go

A hollowed place in something solid

@twotwenty @freemo

>"That is, take the large opening at the bottom... "

You mean the hole at the bottom?

@Pat

No the opening at the bottom. An opening is not a hole necceseraly... though if we want to get technical about it its a bit more complex than that. But if we ant to keep it in layman's terms then its an opening not a hole.

@twotwenty

@freemo @Pat does that mean there is 2 or 4 depending on if those holes exist on the backside to?

@twotwenty

If the openings exist on the backside there are 7, if they dont there are 5.

@Pat

@freemo none because the only holes that matter is pussy ?

@freemo
Actually, there are 8 holes. Let's count them:
- If you can see through the shirt that means you have 2 holes in the front and 2 holes in the back - subtotal 4
- then you have 2 more holes for the arms, 1 big hole down where you put your head to pull the shirt on you and a smaller hole up that allows you to take your head out (and make those complicated topological calculations) - subtotal 4
Total = 8

@mc From an observational standpoint you did pick up on all the detail in the image. However technically speaking the answer is incorrect due tot he formal definition of a hole.

See here: qoto.org/@freemo/1072961160274

@freemo Your question was:
> How many holes does this shirt have?
No mention of "how we count holes" in math.

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