| Abstract: | Continuous selections of linear functions play an important role in Morse theory for piecewise C 2-functions. In this article, the topological properties of continuous selections of linear functions are investigated in detail. These are then utilized to provide a complete classification of all continuous selections of five linear functions. This is done by showing that the first four Betti numbers of a simplicial complex induced by such a function fully determine that function up to topological equivalence. The number of different topological types of continuous selections of linear functions has been known only in the case of four or less selection functions so far. The main result of this article now states that there are exactly 26 different topological types of continuous selections of five linear functions. |
