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Describe an orientable surface

Short Answer

Expert verified
An orientable surface is a surface that has a consistent 'side'. This means it has a well-defined normal vector at every point. An example of this is a sphere or a flat plane.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the concept of an orientable surface

An orientable surface is a surface with a consistent 'side'. This means that if you were to start on one side of this surface and move around without ever crossing over an edge, you would never end up on the 'other side' of the surface. Simply put, an orientable surface is a surface that has two distinct sides, a 'front' and a 'back'.
02

Mathematical description

Mathematically, a surface is said to be orientable if it has a well-defined normal vector at every point. Orientability is related to the concept of a surface's 'twist'
03

Providing examples

An easily understandable example of an orientable surface is a sphere. No matter where you start on a sphere and how you move around it, you always remain on the 'outside' of the sphere. Another example is a standard flat plane; it clearly has an 'up' side and a 'down' side. A non-orientable surface example would be a Möbius Strip, which only has one side.

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