Adding the Triple Point:
The transition from level 3 to level 4 is one of the hardest to
visualize. What happens is that the top part of the lower loop is
pulled across the top of the upper loop, as shown in the diagram
below:
As the red segment passes through the point of intersection formed by
the upper loop, we have three sheets of the surface passing through a
single point, thus forming the
triple point
that is required in any immersion of the projective plane
.
This sequence in the polyhedral case is shown below:
Level 5: The critical level
Level 3: The initial self-intersection
Comparison to Kuiper's level sets
Other pictures
8/10/94 dpvc@geom.umn.edu --