Real projective space is the space of one-dimensional linear subspaces
of
.
Equivalently, it is the quotient of the sphere
that identifies each point with its antipodal
point. Its first two positive-dimensional examples are the real projective line,
homeomorphic to a circle, and the real
projective plane.
Small triangulations provide finite combinatorial models of these spaces. Guyer et al. (2026) constructed a 24-vertex triangulation
of
and a 45-vertex triangulation of
. Kolosov (2026) subsequently reported a 44-vertex triangulation
of
with face vector
Its alternating sum is 1, as required by the Euler characteristic of . The construction is an antipodal quotient of the boundary
of a centrally symmetric simplicial 7-polytope with 88 vertices.
Exact verification programs were replayed by VibeMathed (2026). ChatGPT assisted
the construction search and verification code, but independent expert review had
not been reported as of Sep. 7, 2026. The construction supplies an upper bound
of 44 vertices, not a proof
of minimality.