Retraction of the Möbius strip to its boundary Prove that there is no retraction (i.e. continuous function constant on the codomain) $r: M \rightarrow S^1 = \partial M$ where $M$ is the Möbius strip.
I've tried to find a contradiction using $r_*$ homomorphism between the fundamental groups, but they are both $\mathbb{Z}$ and nothing seems to go wrong...

If $\alpha\in\pi_1(\partial M)$ is a generator, its image $i_*(\alpha)\in\pi_1(M)$ under the inclusion $i:\partial M\to M$ is the square of an element of $\pi_1(M)$, so that if $r:M\to\partial M$ is a retraction, $\alpha=r_*i_*(\alpha)$ is also the square of an element of $\pi_1(\partial M)$. This is not so.
(For all this to work, one has to pick a basepoint $x_0\in\partial M$ and use it to compute both $\pi_1(M)$ and $\pi_1(\partial M)$)
