Invariants of Graph Drawings in the Plane

Abstract

We present a simplified exposition of some classical and modern results on graph drawings in the plane. These results are chosen so that they illustrate some spectacular recent higher-dimensional results on the border of topology and combinatorics. We define a mod2-valued self-intersection invariant (i.e. the van Kampen number) and its generalizations. We present elementary formulations and arguments accessible to mathematicians not specialized in any of the areas discussed. So most part of this survey could be studied before textbooks on algebraic topology, as an introduction to starting ideas of algebraic topology motivated by algorithmic, combinatorial and geometric problems.