Math Is Fun Forum

since homeomorphism is defined by continuity but does not require smoothness we can map the punctured sphere to sharpened pencil shape: a truncated half-cone with apex at the south pole intersecting the sphere at the equator, glued to a half infinite cylinder. then the cylinder is easily mapped to the remaining (infinite) portion of the cone. finally flatten out the cone.

use the unit sphere centred at the origin:

for the map of lower hemisphere to truncated half-cone we send
(x,y,z) to (px,py,z) where p=√ (1-z²)

for the map of the upper punctuated hemisphere to the half- cylinder we send
(x,y,z) to (x/r,y/r,zq/r) where r=√ (x²+y²) and q=√(1-r²)

to map the half-cyclinder to the remainder of the half-cone
send (x,y,z) to (-ipx,-ipy,z) where i=√(-1)

to flatten the half-cone send (x,y,z) to (x,y)

(NB the use of imaginaries is merely a notational convenience)