Let \(C_\bullet \) be a chain complex of finitely-generated \(\mathbb {Z}\)-modules such that \(C_i=0\) for all \(|i|\gg 0\) (i.e., the complex \(C_\bullet \) is bounded). Define the Euler characteristic of \(C\) to be \[ \chi (C)=\sum _{i\in \mathbb {Z}}(-1)^i\operatorname {rank}(C_i), \] where \(\operatorname {rank}(C_i)\) denotes the rank of the (finitely-generated) abelian group \(C_i\).
- Let \(X\) be a finite CW complex, i.e. one having finitely many cells in total. Define \(\chi (X)\) to be \(\chi (C_\bullet ^{\mathrm {CW}}(X))\), where \(C_\bullet ^{\mathrm {CW}}(X)\) denotes the cellular chain complex of \(X\). Show that \[ \chi (X)=\sum _{i\in \mathbb {Z}}(-1)^i\operatorname {rank}(H_i(X)), \] and that this quantity equals \(\sum _{i\in \mathbb {Z}}(-1)^i\dim _F(H_i(X;F))\) for any field \(F\).
- Let \(X\) be a connected compact manifold of odd dimension; you may assume \(X\) is homeomorphic to a finite CW complex. Show that \(\chi (X)=0\).