Homotopy equivalence for $S^n$ with finite k punctures I need help determining to what $S^n/${k points}--the n-dimensional sphere missing a finite k number of points-- is homotopy equivalent.
I tried envisioning the above for n=2:
$S^2\setminus${1 point} is homotopy equivalent to a point.
$S^2\setminus${2 points} is homotopy equivalent to $S^1$.
$S^2\setminus${3 points} is homotopy equivalent to $\vee_2S^1$, or the union of 2 $S^1$ joined at 1 point. 
Assuming that the above are correct, I believe that I can generalize to $S^n\setminus${k points} is homotopy equivalent to $\vee_{k-1}S^{n-1}$. 
Thus, I have 2 main questions.


*

*Is my generalization correct?

*And if so, how do I show this homotopy equivalence rigorously? I came up with the specific examples for $S^2$ by actually envisioning a sphere with k punctures.

Your intuition is correct, though your notation for a few things is off.$^{\dagger}$
Without loss of generality, you can consider the $k$ missing points to be $(\cos \frac{2i\pi}{k}, \sin \frac{2i\pi}{k}, 0)$ for $0 \le i < k$. Then you can work out an explicit description of a homotopy equivalence with an $(k-1)$-fold wedge of circles by using the following intuition:


*

*Expand the missing points towards the north and south poles of the sphere, so that the $i^{\text{th}}$ hole now looks like an open interval bent around the sphere from the north to the south pole passing through $(\cos \frac{2i\pi}{k}, \sin \frac{2i\pi}{k}, 0)$;

*Fatten the holes so that the only remaining parts of the sphere are the north and south poles and $k$ curves joining them together;

*Join the north and south poles together by contracting one of the $k$ curves to a point.


What you are left with is isomorphic to $\overbrace{S^1 \vee S^1 \vee \cdots \vee S^1}^{k-1\ \text{copies}}$.
This generalises to higher dimensions immediately: just stick in some more zeros.

$^{\dagger}$Regarding notation: $/$ typically means 'quotient' and $\setminus$ means 'remove', so the spaces you're considering are really $S^2 \setminus \{ k\ \text{points} \}$. Also, $\wedge$ typically refers to the smash product; what you want is the wedge, denoted $\vee$.
