Multihole

Multihole is not a formal term in most scientific disciplines; it is used informally to describe an object that contains multiple holes or voids. In mathematics and related fields, the concept of holes is formalized in topology and geometry through the idea of genus: a surface with g handles has g holes. A one-holed torus (genus 1) is the classic torus; a double torus is genus 2, and so on. In colloquial usage, multihole refers to any such higher-genus surface or a collection of perforations.

In materials science, multihole structures describe porous materials and foams with many voids connected in various ways. The distribution and connectivity of holes influence properties such as porosity, permeability, and mechanical strength.

In topological data analysis, holes are features of a data set's shape that persist across scales; the number and type of holes are captured by Betti numbers and persistent homology. The term multihole may appear in non-technical writing to describe datasets with several significant cycles.

In theoretical physics, multispace solutions often describe more than one gravitational hole, i.e., multiple black holes in a single spacetime. These multihole configurations are studied to understand gravitational interactions and radiation, though the term is not a standard label in formal literature.

Because multihole is informal, precise terminology should be used in rigorous contexts—genus and n-holed surfaces in topology; porous material microstructure in materials science; Betti numbers in topology-based data analysis; multi-black-hole solutions in general relativity.