Adjoint functorsIn mathematics, specifically , adjunction is a relationship that two functors may exhibit, intuitively corresponding to a weak form of equivalence between two related categories. Two functors that stand in this relationship are known as adjoint functors, one being the left adjoint and the other the right adjoint. Pairs of adjoint functors are ubiquitous in mathematics and often arise from constructions of "optimal solutions" to certain problems (i.e.
FunctorIn mathematics, specifically , a functor is a mapping between . Functors were first considered in algebraic topology, where algebraic objects (such as the fundamental group) are associated to topological spaces, and maps between these algebraic objects are associated to continuous maps between spaces. Nowadays, functors are used throughout modern mathematics to relate various categories. Thus, functors are important in all areas within mathematics to which is applied.
Forgetful functorIn mathematics, in the area of , a forgetful functor (also known as a stripping functor) 'forgets' or drops some or all of the input's structure or properties 'before' mapping to the output. For an algebraic structure of a given signature, this may be expressed by curtailing the signature: the new signature is an edited form of the old one. If the signature is left as an empty list, the functor is simply to take the underlying set of a structure.
Hom functorIn mathematics, specifically in , hom-sets (i.e. sets of morphisms between ) give rise to important functors to the . These functors are called hom-functors and have numerous applications in category theory and other branches of mathematics. Let C be a (i.e. a for which hom-classes are actually sets and not proper classes). For all objects A and B in C we define two functors to the as follows: {| class=wikitable |- ! Hom(A, –) : C → Set ! Hom(–, B) : C → Set |- | This is a covariant functor given by: Hom(A, –) maps each object X in C to the set of morphisms, Hom(A, X) Hom(A, –) maps each morphism f : X → Y to the function Hom(A, f) : Hom(A, X) → Hom(A, Y) given by for each g in Hom(A, X).
Category theoryCategory theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Category theory is used in almost all areas of mathematics. In particular, numerous constructions of new mathematical objects from previous ones that appear similarly in several contexts are conveniently expressed and unified in terms of categories.
Exact functorIn mathematics, particularly homological algebra, an exact functor is a functor that preserves short exact sequences. Exact functors are convenient for algebraic calculations because they can be directly applied to presentations of objects. Much of the work in homological algebra is designed to cope with functors that fail to be exact, but in ways that can still be controlled. Let P and Q be abelian categories, and let F: P→Q be a covariant additive functor (so that, in particular, F(0) = 0).
IsomorphismIn mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word isomorphism is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἴσος isos "equal", and μορφή morphe "form" or "shape". The interest in isomorphisms lies in the fact that two isomorphic objects have the same properties (excluding further information such as additional structure or names of objects).
Category (mathematics)In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a ) is a collection of "objects" that are linked by "arrows". A category has two basic properties: the ability to compose the arrows associatively and the existence of an identity arrow for each object. A simple example is the , whose objects are sets and whose arrows are functions. is a branch of mathematics that seeks to generalize all of mathematics in terms of categories, independent of what their objects and arrows represent.
Functor categoryIn , a branch of mathematics, a functor category is a category where the objects are the functors and the morphisms are natural transformations between the functors (here, is another object in the category). Functor categories are of interest for two main reasons: many commonly occurring categories are (disguised) functor categories, so any statement proved for general functor categories is widely applicable; every category embeds in a functor category (via the Yoneda embedding); the functor category often has nicer properties than the original category, allowing certain operations that were not available in the original setting.
Monad (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, a monad (also triple, triad, standard construction and fundamental construction) is a in the of endofunctors of some fixed category. An endofunctor is a functor mapping a category to itself, and a monad is an endofunctor together with two natural transformations required to fulfill certain coherence conditions. Monads are used in the theory of pairs of adjoint functors, and they generalize closure operators on partially ordered sets to arbitrary categories.
Derived functorIn mathematics, certain functors may be derived to obtain other functors closely related to the original ones. This operation, while fairly abstract, unifies a number of constructions throughout mathematics. It was noted in various quite different settings that a short exact sequence often gives rise to a "long exact sequence". The concept of derived functors explains and clarifies many of these observations. Suppose we are given a covariant left exact functor F : A → B between two A and B.
Section (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, a section is a right inverse of some morphism. , a retraction is a left inverse of some morphism. In other words, if and are morphisms whose composition is the identity morphism on , then is a section of , and is a retraction of . Every section is a monomorphism (every morphism with a left inverse is left-cancellative), and every retraction is an epimorphism (every morphism with a right inverse is right-cancellative). In algebra, sections are also called split monomorphisms and retractions are also called split epimorphisms.
Equivalence relationIn mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation. Each equivalence relation provides a partition of the underlying set into disjoint equivalence classes. Two elements of the given set are equivalent to each other if and only if they belong to the same equivalence class.
Dual (category theory)In , a branch of mathematics, duality is a correspondence between the properties of a category C and the dual properties of the Cop. Given a statement regarding the category C, by interchanging the source and target of each morphism as well as interchanging the order of composing two morphisms, a corresponding dual statement is obtained regarding the opposite category Cop. Duality, as such, is the assertion that truth is invariant under this operation on statements.
Tensor-hom adjunctionIn mathematics, the tensor-hom adjunction is that the tensor product and hom-functor form an adjoint pair: This is made more precise below. The order of terms in the phrase "tensor-hom adjunction" reflects their relationship: tensor is the left adjoint, while hom is the right adjoint. Say R and S are (possibly noncommutative) rings, and consider the right module categories (an analogous statement holds for left modules): Fix an -bimodule and define functors and as follows: Then is left adjoint to .
Category of setsIn the mathematical field of , the category of sets, denoted as Set, is the whose are sets. The arrows or morphisms between sets A and B are the total functions from A to B, and the composition of morphisms is the composition of functions. Many other categories (such as the , with group homomorphisms as arrows) add structure to the objects of the category of sets and/or restrict the arrows to functions of a particular kind.
Equivalence classIn mathematics, when the elements of some set have a notion of equivalence (formalized as an equivalence relation), then one may naturally split the set into equivalence classes. These equivalence classes are constructed so that elements and belong to the same equivalence class if, and only if, they are equivalent. Formally, given a set and an equivalence relation on the of an element in denoted by is the set of elements which are equivalent to It may be proven, from the defining properties of equivalence relations, that the equivalence classes form a partition of This partition—the set of equivalence classes—is sometimes called the quotient set or the quotient space of by and is denoted by .
Isomorphism theoremsIn mathematics, specifically abstract algebra, the isomorphism theorems (also known as Noether's isomorphism theorems) are theorems that describe the relationship between quotients, homomorphisms, and subobjects. Versions of the theorems exist for groups, rings, vector spaces, modules, Lie algebras, and various other algebraic structures. In universal algebra, the isomorphism theorems can be generalized to the context of algebras and congruences.
Higher category theoryIn mathematics, higher category theory is the part of at a higher order, which means that some equalities are replaced by explicit arrows in order to be able to explicitly study the structure behind those equalities. Higher category theory is often applied in algebraic topology (especially in homotopy theory), where one studies algebraic invariants of spaces, such as their fundamental . An ordinary has and morphisms, which are called 1-morphisms in the context of higher category theory.
Order isomorphismIn the mathematical field of order theory, an order isomorphism is a special kind of monotone function that constitutes a suitable notion of isomorphism for partially ordered sets (posets). Whenever two posets are order isomorphic, they can be considered to be "essentially the same" in the sense that either of the orders can be obtained from the other just by renaming of elements. Two strictly weaker notions that relate to order isomorphisms are order embeddings and Galois connections.
