Invariants of graph drawings in the plane
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We present a simplified exposition of some classical and modern results on graph drawings in the plane. These results are chosen so that they illustrate some spectacular recent higher-dimensional results on the border of topology and combinatorics. We define a mod2-valued self-intersection invariant (i.e. the van Kampen number) and its generalizations. We present elementary formulations and arguments, so we do not require any knowledge of algebraic topology. This survey is accessible to mathematicians not specialized in any of the areas discussed. It may serve as an introduction into algebraic topology motivated by algorithmic, combinatorial and geometric problems.
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