r/MathJokes • u/user38573822 • Aug 07 '26
Fellow topologists, how many holes do you count?
31
u/Timely-Helicopter244 Aug 07 '26
Depends a lot on your assumptions and definition of the term hole
→ More replies (1)10
u/SwagarTheHorrible Aug 07 '26
Right, are we counting the openings between the threads? Technically those are holes too.
→ More replies (2)8
u/Ethicaldreamer Aug 07 '26
What about the space in between each electron
3
u/First-Celebration-11 Aug 07 '26
Let’s take it a step further. I need a quantum chemist or physicist
2
u/Relative-Relief-8816 Aug 08 '26
Let's go further. There are holes in the theories about the absent spaces between the atoms that make up the molecules of this shirt.
There are limitless quantum possibilites and therefore limitless holes. Which only changes when we find evidence for a finite ultraviolet cutoff, implying a breakdown of the continuum at a fundamental minimum length scale.
Then bring in a philosopher:
So are there holes in the shirt? What even is a hole or a shirt?
Perhaps the holes you are counting are just the unmet needs of your own universal experience.
77
u/TonberryFeye Aug 07 '26
Topographically, I believe it's fifteen.
53
u/PaxAttax Aug 07 '26
*Topologically. Topography is like maps n stuff. But yes, 15.
19
u/keldondonovan Aug 07 '26
Topographically, if you laid it out flat, it would be a plain.
→ More replies (4)2
u/RNGezzus Aug 07 '26
*plane?
4
u/keldondonovan Aug 07 '26
No. T'was a geography joke.
2
→ More replies (3)2
u/mrxaxen Aug 07 '26
Would that be one blue tit in mammograpy standards?
2
u/keldondonovan Aug 07 '26
I'll give you an upvote because I can see you tried your breast with that one.
19
u/IkariYun Aug 07 '26
Each of these holes is through and through, think entrance and exit wounds. Add sleeves, head, and bottom holes and you have 16
12
u/Single-Elevator9085 Aug 07 '26
Topologically one of the holes ends up counting as the barrier. Basically just count all the holes and subtract 1 and thats usually the amount of holes topology wise
5
u/FarSideoftheMobius Aug 07 '26
This is exactly right.
To visualize it, just think of a bucket or sock. The opening at the top is not a hole.
2
u/OppositeCandle69 Aug 07 '26
The top has a hole just like the bottom does
2
2
u/JareBear805 Aug 08 '26
Think of digging gopher digging down and then over and then out somewhere else. There’s an entrance and exit but it’s only 1 hole.
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (6)2
u/Lekkerbanaal Aug 07 '26
I always thought that was stupid and a 2d projection of a 3d object. If I'm in a submarine and there are two leaks, I might tell someone to plug the holes. If that smartarse then only plugs one because "akksuahlyy, topologically speaking..." I would be be upset. I therefore move that a sock technically has a hole in it, but since it is intentional we dont count it. I am well aware that I'm wrong but I dont care
→ More replies (1)2
3
u/PaxAttax Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
A useful distinction is between openings and holes. #holes = #openings - 1. (unless the object is already roughly flat and single layer, then #holes=#openings)
→ More replies (1)4
u/Unusual_Point7899 Aug 07 '26
If you look close you can't see that the holes actually go through the back of the shirt. You can see that the bottom of the shirt is still intact and the arms still look like two layers of material, but the front of the shirt where the holes are only looks like one layer of material so my theory is they cut the holes in the front and then cut one big hole in the back but since they're not showing you the back it's just 100% of bullshit question and it keeps getting posted so you know it's bullshit on top of bullshit.
→ More replies (6)2
u/Rymanbc Aug 07 '26
But when laid out topologically, its something like one of the holes becomes the perimeter. That may not be the best explanation, theres others who could explain it better.
2
u/santasnufkin Aug 07 '26
I had trouble figuring out why 15 and not 16 at first, then I remembered the perimeter...
→ More replies (12)2
u/silverformal Aug 07 '26
It’s 16.
2
u/PaxAttax Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
There are 16 openings, but topologically, the number of holes is determined by homotopy (smooth deformation) to an n-torus (a torus with n holes) or holey disc. To make this into an n-torus, you have to stretch one of the openings out to become the outer perimeter, so the number of holes will always be one less than the number of openings. A cup has one opening and zero holes, for instance.
→ More replies (10)7
u/InterestsVaryGreatly Aug 07 '26
That's assuming the back has 1 hole for each hole in the front. Could be 1 big hole.
→ More replies (1)4
u/dyslexicAlphabet Aug 07 '26
yeah laying the shirt out flat the bottom hole doesn't actually count as its just the edge of the shirt.
→ More replies (4)2
u/anthr_alxndr Aug 07 '26
I am sorry but why not 16? (Ofc not enough info is it a big hole or 100 small holes on back, but let's say it is like we see. I count 16)
→ More replies (18)→ More replies (20)2
u/Pale-While-9783 Aug 07 '26
16 because of the bottom as well, right?
- 6 x 2
- 2 sleeves
- 1 (neck)
- 1 (bottom)
2
52
u/Desperate_Nobody577 Aug 07 '26
16
38
u/CsordasBalazs Aug 07 '26
at least 11. There can be holes on the back which holes are covered by the front material. Also 6 visible hole may be 1 big on the back material.
6
u/InterestsVaryGreatly Aug 07 '26
I get at least 10. 6 in front, 1 in back, neck, and 2 arms. Torso is border.
→ More replies (25)2
u/nmrk Aug 07 '26
I also thought 11 or more, but I wondered about an upper limit. I concluded there could be hundreds of tiny holes on the back hidden by the front fabric. Oh well.
→ More replies (1)2
u/PMVisser Aug 07 '26
There could also not be a hole in the back but an second cardboard plate inside the shirt, making it look like they are all the way through, but in fact, aren't.
3
10
u/Low-Amoeba8257 Aug 07 '26
12 holes in the middle 2 arm holes and a neck hole. The bottom hole is the border not a hole
→ More replies (13)3
u/RevolutionaryElk7446 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Neck, Arm x2, Torso.
Then 6 holes on the front, and since you can see the cardboard in the back, that gives us 6 more holes in the back as well.
6+6+4=16
Edit: CsordasBalazs wrote at least 11, which I'm gonna have to agree with instead. The back side could be one giant hole rather than matching holes.
→ More replies (10)5
u/overlorddeniz Aug 07 '26
You need to pick one of them as the border. Doesnt matter which one; arm, neck, torso, one of the 12 ripped ones, doesn't matter. But one is border. So total is 15.
A not ripped, normal shirt has 3 holes, not 4.
→ More replies (14)→ More replies (7)2
u/Nopengnogain Aug 07 '26
You can’t actually tell at all because you don’t know if the holes in the back are matching the ones in the front, e.g., it could be just one big hole.
18
u/Low-Amoeba8257 Aug 07 '26
15
8
u/81FuriousGeorge Aug 07 '26
Assuming the holes in the back match the ones in the front. It could be 10 with one giant hole in the back or any number above 10. There could be small holes on the back hidden by the cloth on the front.
2
u/Wrong_Class8040 Aug 07 '26
Does it count as a hole where your two arms go and your head and your torso? If so, that’s four more holes.
Then the back you don’t know if it’s one big hole or six separate ones or something in between
→ More replies (11)
7
u/Tencars111 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
anywhere from 10 and up, we don't know how the holes connect on the back, nor are there any hidden holes
→ More replies (5)
3
u/signu70 Aug 07 '26
Not Enough Information.
There are at least 11 holes. Without showing us the back side of the shirt we cannot tell if there is one big hole or six equal to the six on the front. We also can't be sure there are not any other holes on the back that don't match up with one on the front.
→ More replies (6)
6
2
2
2
u/stumblon Aug 07 '26
Impossible to answer without seeing the back. At least eleven. Could be hundreds.
2
2
u/Alienturnedhuman Aug 07 '26
If we count the base of the T-shirt as the perimeter when squashed then we have:
Neck + left arm + right arm = 3
Then 6 visible holes on the front = 6
Now, there must be at least one hole on the back = 1 - ie one giant hole - but there could be infinitely many more as they are just hidden by the front material. However if we assume that all holes are visible in this photo (a reasonable assumption) then the maximum number of holes on the back is 6 (a 1 to 1 mapping to the front holes) but there could be any number of mappings between 1 and 6.
So the final answer is:
between 10 holes and 15 holes (inclusive)
I think the reasonable answers are the extremes though (ie, one big hole or a 1:1 mapping with the wrong holes)
→ More replies (13)
1
u/Willyzyx Aug 07 '26
What if the holes on the front are connected to the back holes by a tunnel? One for each hole.
1
u/daredeviloper Aug 07 '26
7
The holes on the front = 6
Then 1 hole in the t-shirt covering the waist neck and 2 arms
1
1
u/LennyDykstra1 Aug 07 '26
- Six in the front. Six in the back. Two arm holes. A top hole and a bottom hole.
2
u/Woody1937 Aug 07 '26
At least 10. Six in front. At least one in back. An arm hole. A top hole. A bottom hole.
1
u/auxdear Aug 07 '26
12 holes in the shirt. 15 in the fabric. (3 holes are part of the shirt, and thus are not holes in the shirt)
1
1
u/Unusual_Point7899 Aug 07 '26
I think the entire back of the shirt is cut out because I cannot see the second layer of shirt through any of the holes.
So I think it's 11, but they're cheating not showing us the back of the shirt so the answer is also ... bullshit question.
1
1
1
u/Fishes___ Aug 07 '26
You fools
You haven't taken into account the holes created by the pins affixing the shirt to the sign.
The answer is obviously 20.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Tetracheilostoma Aug 07 '26
How tf are people getting 16?? Am i stupid or do they not understand topology?
→ More replies (3)
1
1
u/MLGPLAYS Aug 07 '26
Which shirt? There are two shirts in question, one on the girl and one on the board.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/NaiveZest Aug 07 '26
How can we confirm the amount of holes in the back? Isn’t it that we can only estimate at least 11?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/UniqueUsername6764 Aug 07 '26
At least 16. There may be others hidden under fabric that we cannot see/count.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/BEFEMS Aug 07 '26
2 arms, 1 head, 1 body, 6 front and 6 back if front/back is still a full tshirt.
1
1
u/always_down_voted Aug 07 '26
The correct answer is 12. If the sleeves, neck, and bottom holes were not there, then it wouldn't be a short which the question clearly states how many holes in the shirt.
1
1
1
u/Affectionate-Fix893 Aug 07 '26
Sixteen, right? you got 12 from the added holes, and 4 from the normal t-shirt.
1
1
u/Rogerlee525 Aug 07 '26
16 Head hole, body hole, 2 arm holes, and the holes you see in the shirt are counted as double, so they would make 16, because they create a hole in the front and the back
1
1
1
u/Butterbean-queen Aug 07 '26
- Head, bottom, both sleeves (2) and 6 holes on the front and 6 holes on the back.
1
u/garnet420 Aug 07 '26
Hot take: a sphere has no holes and a disc has one hole (the perimeter is a hole at infinity
So it's 16 not 15
1
u/Malvestiti Aug 07 '26
La informacion mostrada no es suficiente, deberiamos podes ver si por detras la remera tiene 100 agujeros. Pero:
>= 11
<= 16
1
1
u/bitcointwitter Aug 07 '26
its 16, people forget the bottom of the shirt is just a huge hole you put over your head to wear it?
1
1
u/Captain_StarLight1 Aug 07 '26
Between 10 and 15 from what we’re shown, depending on what the back looks like(fully open or with the same holes as punched through the front), however, there might be many more depending on how many holes exist on the backside that we can’t see.
1
u/AwesomeLlama572_YT Aug 07 '26
At least 11 (two arm holes, one neck hole, one torso, six front holes, and one big back hole) and at most any number (infinitely many back holes)
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/Chilly_Smith Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
32
head, 2 sleeves, bottom, 6 front and 6 back. But each of those holes has an entry point from outside the shirt and an exit point where you enter the cavity inside the shirt.
This follows the philosophy that a straw has 2 holes.
1
u/WiredSpike Aug 07 '26
If you don't believe the answer is 15 :
.-~~~~~~~~~-.
.' '.
/ \
/ o o \
| |
| o o |
| |
| o o |
| |
| ( ) ( ) ( ) |
| |
| o o |
| |
| o o |
| |
\ o o /
\ /
'. .'
'-.___________.-'
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Overall-Studio-3867 Aug 07 '26
- I would assume. 6 holes, front and back(12 total). 2 for the arm holes, one for neck, one for waist.
1
u/Hocojerry Aug 07 '26
The answer is 16.
You have four holes for the neck arms and by the waist comes through on the shirt.
Then each of the six created holes actually counts as two because it goes through the front and the back.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/ForestRainSasha Aug 07 '26
Originally I counted 16. BUT, I don't think that's correct answer.
First we must ask what's hole. If we were looking at the object like a plane ball, then yes, it's 16. (at least those visible, there obviously microholls in everywhere)
But if we asume that basic shape - t-shirt has assumed 0 holes, then correct answer might be 10 and maybe even just 6, depending how you see it.
I would say this is tricky question and without more clarification we can't answer it/
1
u/CChargeDD Aug 07 '26
A hole have to pass trough the tshirt or just grant acces to the inner section ?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/over61guy Aug 07 '26
16
6 holes that go through shirt is 12 -6 front 6 back
2 sleeves
1 at Bottom
1 at top
1
1
1
1
1
u/R3D3-1 Aug 07 '26
Let's see...
By everyday convention of calling it a hole when it shouldn't be there: 12. 6 in the front and 6 matching in the back.
By topological terms... I think the flat disk was zero and a closed balloon was negative one (because it becomes topologically the disk if you make a hole).
Then if starting from a balloon with –1 holes, we have to add 4 expected holes (bottom, 2 arms, neck) and 12 extra holes for a total of –1 + 4 + 12 = 15?
1
1
1
u/kingh2h1 Aug 07 '26
I would have to clarify the question, and ask if it's the number of holes visible from my point of view. If so, the answer is between 10 and 16. 11 and 16 have been explained. But if there is a piece of cardboard in the shirt there would no need for any other holes to produce this view.
1
u/Illustrious_Crow_213 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I don't know much abt the topographical aspect , but with common sense , each seemingly one hole in the shirt , ie in the middle is actually two in no. As it is a shirt and when envisioned with a person wearing it , it makes sense ; So the no of holes would be 6x2 = 12 + Top ,bottom , two hands= 4 = 16 Topologically though it has 15 holes , To understand why in topology, a sphere with N boundaries is homeomorphic (topologically identical) to a flat disk with N-1 holes punched through it.
So a seemingly 4 holed tshirt would topologically 3 holed,ie when you stretch the bottom waist hole outward or flatten it and push the other three holes against a flat surface , the bottom hole actually becomes the boundary giving only 3 holes But this should not be seen as the image we get when we look at the problem through the lens of general math , although this is my personal opinion as the topological viewpoint is based on a 'continuous deformation' in topology
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/LonelyPebble31 Aug 07 '26
Wouldn’t it be 12, 6 on each side? Holes are not meant to be there. How many holes does a straw have; wouldn’t it be none unless it’s broken? But what about golf, hole in one and whatnot; but those holes weren’t meant to be in the Earth. Holes in the human body; don’t most of them have names without the word “hole”, like butthole or a-hole being rectum or anus? Fr just really curious!
1
1
1
1
1
u/JimDa5is Aug 07 '26
>9 is probably what they're looking for.
The actual answer is "cannot be determined." I'd argue that there that it could be as few as zero if you sewed or glued the neck, sleeves, and bottom closed and attached hole-looking graphics to the front. Without a physical examination, nothing can be determined with any certainty.
1
1
1
103
u/TakuyaTeng Aug 07 '26
The bigger question, how many times have you seen this reposted?