I've heard people talk about the Euler characteristic of a stack, and I understand that it is sometimes fractional. This tells me that it is not defined in any usual sense like $\sum (-1)^i\dim H^i(X)$. What is the definition? What are good references for this? What is the inspiration for the definition?
What is the definition of the Euler characteristic of a stack?
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algebraic-geometry
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2Stacks are closely related to orbifolds, and orbifolds have a definition of Euler characteristic. I think one of the key motivations for orbifold Euler characteristic is that it should be multiplicative under finite covering spaces. – 2011-08-31