this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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At work we somehow landed on the topic of how many holes a human has, which then evolved into a heated discussion on the classic question of how many holes does a straw have.

I think it's two, but some people are convinced that it's one, which I just don't understand. What are your thoughts?

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[–] krayj 117 points 1 year ago (23 children)

1 'hole' if you can call it that. Imagine if the straw started life as a solid cylinder and you had to bore out the inside to turn it into a straw: if that were the case, you would drill 1 hole all the way through it.

Another analogy is a donut. Would you agree that a donut has just 1 hole? I would say yes. Now stretch that donut vertically untill you have a giant cylinder with a hole in the middle. That's basically now just a straw. The fact you stretched it doesn't increase the number of holes it has.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (15 children)

How many holes does a donut have?

Now make the donut higher. A lot higher. Now you have a donut-tunnel. Now make the walls thinner. Now shrink it. Now you have a straw.

One hole.

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[–] ccunning 55 points 1 year ago (8 children)

How many holes does a rubber band have? A donut?

Topologically a rubber band, a donut, and a straw have the same number of holes. The hole at either end of the straw is just a continuation of the same one hole.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (8 children)

By that argument your mouth is a continuation of your asshole... No offense.

[–] simplecyphers 71 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Some people haven't realized almost all animals are just tubes with various fancy shit glued on.

Edit: including humans

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Or put biologically, virtually all fauna are just various advanced forms of flatworm.

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[–] RealNooshie 10 points 1 year ago

I guess we all are talking out of our asses, then...

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[–] theherk 51 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Classic topology question. Absolutely one hole; it goes all the way through.

Of course, connotatively, two is a fine assessment, but not in topology.

How many holes does a donut have? Now just try to image the real difference between a straw and a donut. Is there one, aside from deliciousness?

[–] bhamlin 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Deliciousness here is only limited by bravery.

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[–] Ddhuud 50 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Mathematically It's one. Think of a disk, like a CD, does it have one hole or two? One, right? Now imagine you can make it thicker, I.e. increase the height, and then reduce the outer radius... Making it progressively more straw-like. At what point does it stop having 1 hole and begin to have 2?

Topologically they're the same shape.

I'm sure Matt Parker has a video on this topic in YouTube. Here

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (7 children)

how many holes does a donut have? one. a straw is just a tall plastic donut.

two holes... smdh... kids these days

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[–] assassinatedbyCIA 35 points 1 year ago (8 children)

A straw is geometrically the same as a circular piece of paper with a z depth of zero and a hole in the middle. Because the z depth is zero there is only one hole. As you add thickness the one hole remains. Therefore, a straw has one hole.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Does a doughnut have two holes?

Because a straw is just an elongated doughnut.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] LordyLord 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] jimmy90 7 points 1 year ago

yup, answer is 1

[–] Fedizen 29 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It has two exits, one hole.

If you drill a hole in a block of wood you create one hole not two, note that whether or not the drill exits the opposite side, only one hole has been created despite differing numbers of exits.

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[–] candybrie 26 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The answer depends on the context. Topologically, it's one. I personally like zero. If I say "There's a hole in my straw!" You'll not think all straws have holes. You'll think there's something wrong with it.

[–] RealNooshie 15 points 1 year ago

To be fair, I think shirts already have holes, but if I said "there's a hole in my shirt" you'd think there was an EXTRA hole

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's one, big long hole. If you drilled a hole through a board, do you say it's two holes?

Or it's 0 holes, as it's not cut out of something, but rather just formed that way meaning by strict dictionary definition, there are no "holes."

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[–] Yarla98 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I believe the confusion lies in the word "holes" when you are thinking about openings or exits. Just my 2 cents.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

One of course, what a weird conversation to have.

[–] asterfield 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you make the straw less long, it’s a donut. And a donut obviously has 1 hole. So a long donut only has one hole. Q.E.D

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[–] Contravariant 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

To settle this argument could you clarify if we're supposed to be considering the straw as a solid 3D object with a thickness, or as a curved 2D surface? The answer kind of depends on which you pick.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A hollow cylinder has a single hole, with two openings. A hole can be open on one end only (e.g., a well is a hole in the ground), or it can have multiple openings (e.g., a straw has a hole with two openings).

If one cannot immediately tell whether two openings are connected to one another, then one assumes they are not; e.g., if you see a well in Florida you don't assume it is the opening of a hole that extends to connect to another opening in Australia.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

one hole is going through the straw

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m more interested in humans. Is the mouth and anus two holes or one?

[–] rayneokay 16 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Well, depends what you call a hole. Does a glass have a hole? Does a bottle have a hole?

If you said no to both, you mean a topological hole and a straw has one.

If you said yes to one or both of them, you mean a tight opening in which someting can be inserted (yes yes, innuendo). How tight an opening must be to be a hole is arbitrary and subjective, it depends on the person. In this case a straw has two holes.

[–] rbhfd 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Continuing on the innuendo: topologically a vagina is not a hole, but a butthole is.

You could argue that a hole is an entrance to a wider space. A door or window is a hole to a room. If you want to know the number of holes in a room, you would at least have to include all the doors and windows.

In this sense, the straw doesn't have a hole at all.

Or maybe it is just one hole.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Poop. Beans. Here come the holes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  1. A straw is a continuous surface without any holes.
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How far are you zooming in? I'd say there are basically infinite holes if you look at it at an atomic scale

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago
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