Let En+1, for some integer n ≥ 0, be the (n + 1)-dimensional Euclidean space, and denote by Sn the standard n–sphere in En+1,
. It is convenient to introduce the (–1)-dimensional sphere
, where
denotes the empty set. By an i-dimensional subsphere T of Sn, i = 0 n, we understand the intersection of Sn with some (i+1)-dimensional subspace of En+1. The affine hull of T always contains, with this definition, the origin of En+1.
is the unique (–1)-dimensional subsphere of Sn. By the spherical hull, sph X, of a set
, we understand the intersection of all subspheres of Sn containing X. Further we set dim X: = dim sph X. The interior, the boundary and the complement of an arbitrary set
, with respect to Sn, shall be denoted by int X, bd X and cpl X. Finally we define the relative interior rel int X to be the interior of
with respect to the usual topology sphZ
. For
each (n–1)-dimensional subsphere of Sn defines two closed hemispheres of Sn, whose common boundary it is. The two hemispheres of the sphere Sº are denned to be the two one-pointed subsets of Sº. A subset
is called a closed (spherical) polytope, if it is the intersection of finitely many closed hemispheres, and, if, in addition, it does not contain a subsphere of Sn.
is called an i-dimensional, relatively open polytope,
, or shortly an i-open polytope, if there exists a closed polytope
such that dim P = i and Q = rel int P.
is called a closed polyhedron, if it is a finite union of closed polytopes P1 …, Pr. The empty set
is the only (–1)-dimensional closed polyhedron of Sn. We denote by
the set of all closed polyhedra of Sn.
is called an i-open polyhedron, for some
, if there are finitely many i-open polytopes Q1 …, Qr in Sn such that
, and dim
. By
we denote the set of all i-open polyhedra. Clearly
for all
, and each i-dimensional subsphere of Sn,
, belongs to
and to
, For each i-dimensional subsphere T of Sn, set
. A map
is defined by
, for all
, and, for all
.