this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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At work we somehow landed on the topic of how many holes a human has, which then evolved into a heated discussion on the classic question of how many holes does a straw have.

I think it's two, but some people are convinced that it's one, which I just don't understand. What are your thoughts?

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[–] perviouslyiner@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Take a sealed tin can. Punch a hole in it. Punch another hole in it. You now have one hole.

[–] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, but that's two holes. And it's because the holes are not connect by a single, unbroken cylinder. It's the material at the edge of those holes and the 90° turn at the corners that makes the holes disconnected.

[–] blazerboy65@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

The edges and corners mean nothing for the purposes of counting holes. Counting holes is a concept of topology that relies on continuous deformation. All non-opening features of the object just get squished and stretched away in the process of identifying holes.

For the purpose of counting holes a can with two openings punched into it is equivalent to a donut which we know has only one hole.