How Many Holes Does a Human Have?
Why Hacker News recommends it
Pointed to as a fun, light introduction to topology and to answer the human-holes question.
What it is
Vsauce asks how many holes a human has and uses topology to show the answer depends on what counts as a hole, with animations and expert input.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2021 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends thearrow · 2021-01 · on “Topology 101: How Mathematicians Study Holes”
If you'd like a fun, light, video introduction to this topic, this Vsauce video is worth a watch: [this video]
Recommends dsamarin · 2021-05 · on “The anus is an evolutionary marvel”
It depends on the minimum size of the what you will consider a hole. Check out the video from VSauce on YouTube about how many holes a human has. [this video]
Recommends davkan · 2024-02 · on “'Entropy bagels' and other complex structures emerge from simple rules”
Vsauce has an interesting video regarding topology[0]. Probably a bit rudimentary for anyone already familiar with the math, but still entertaining in the typical vsauce way. [0] [this video]
Cites ravi-delia · 2021-11 · on “The Math of Hunting Lions”
This vsauce video is about humans, but I imagine pretty much every mammal will be just about topologically equivalent. As it turns out we humans have quite a few more holes than fleshy donuts would. [this video]
Cites karmakaze · 2022-01 · on “Let's Settle This”
The Vsauce video in sibling comment at 12:59 shows an animation from the two-rings to the T-shaped pipe, or even a better animation at 15:59. 12:59 [this video] 15:59 [this video]
Cites 725686 · 2024-12 · on “Fish have a brain microbiome – could humans have one too?”
Michael Stevens of VSauce fame has you covered with his "How Many Holes Does a Human Have?" video: [this video]