if
We need the following lemma:
If a space is the union of a collection of path-connected open sets
each containing the basepoint
and if each intersection
is path-connected, then every loop in
at
is homotopic to a product of loops each of which is contained in a single
.
Proof:
Take and
to be the complements of two antipodal points in
. Then
is the union of two open sets
and
, each homeomorphic to
such that
is homeomorphic to
.
Choose a basepoint in
. If
then
is path-connected. By the lemma, every loop in
based at
is homotopic to a product of loops in
or
. Both
and
are zero since
and
are homeomorphic to
. Hence every loop in
is nullhomotopic.