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...

For each $\alpha\in\partial M$, let $\gamma_\alpha$ be the closed loop in $M$ that starts at $\alpha$, goes directly across the strip to its antipode and then halfway around the boundary to its starting point in positive direction. Then $\alpha\mapsto\gamma_\alpha$ is a homotopy -- in particular every $\gamma_\alpha$ has the same homotopy class.
On the other hand, if $x$ and $y$ are antipodes, then when we form $\gamma_x+\gamma_y$, the "directly across" sections cancel out, and the concatenated curve is homotopic to a single turn around the entire boundary. So the homotopy class of $r(\gamma_x+\gamma_y)$ in $\partial M$ is $1$. On the other hand, $r$ ought to induce a homomorphism between the homotopy groups, but $1$ is not twice anything in $\mathbb Z$, which is a contradiction.
