Difference between revisions of "Category (category theory)"
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* The category '''Cat''' of all small categories, where morphisms are [[functor|functors]]. | * The category '''Cat''' of all small categories, where morphisms are [[functor|functors]]. | ||
* For any categories <math>\mathcal{C}</math> and <math>\mathcal{D}</math>, the '''functor category''' <math>\mathcal{D}^\mathcal{C}</math> of functors <math>\mathcal{C}\to \mathcal{D}</math> where morphisms are [[natural transformation|natural transformations]]. | * For any categories <math>\mathcal{C}</math> and <math>\mathcal{D}</math>, the '''functor category''' <math>\mathcal{D}^\mathcal{C}</math> of functors <math>\mathcal{C}\to \mathcal{D}</math> where morphisms are [[natural transformation|natural transformations]]. | ||
| + | * For any set <math>S</math>, we can form the ''[[discrete category]] on <math>S</math>'' whose objects are elements of <math>S</math> and such that the only morphisms are the identity morphisms on each object. | ||
| + | * For any category <math>\mathcal{C}</math> we can form the ''[[opposite category]]'' or the ''dual category'', <math>\mathcal{C}^{op}</math> whose objects are the objects of <math>\mathcal{C}</math>, but where all the morphisms are 'reversed' (i.e. a morphism from <math>X</math> to <math>Y</math> would be replaced by a morphism from <math>Y</math> to <math>X</math>). | ||
{{stub}} | {{stub}} | ||
[[Category:Category theory]] | [[Category:Category theory]] | ||
Revision as of 21:32, 2 September 2008
A category, 
, is a mathematical object consisting of:
- A class,
of objects. - For every pair of objects
, a class 
of morphisms from 
to 
. (We sometimes write 
to mean 
.) - For every three objects,
, a binary operation 
called composition, which satisfies:
- (associativity) Given
, 
and 
we have ![\[h\circ(g\circ f) = (h \circ g)\circ f.\]](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/5/d/7/5d70e95a5f477d732eb7446c57b120cc8e5b2b7f.png)
- (identity) For and object
, there is an identity morphism 
such that for any : ![\[1_B\circ f = f = f\circ 1_A.\]](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/e/c/aece5511fa01764dfc5258e44f54823bb93c2e2c.png)
- (associativity) Given
to 
. (We sometimes write 
to mean 
.)
, a binary operation 
called composition, which satisfies:
, 
and 
we have ![\[h\circ(g\circ f) = (h \circ g)\circ f.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/5/d/7/5d70e95a5f477d732eb7446c57b120cc8e5b2b7f.png)
, there is an identity morphism 
such that for any ![\[1_B\circ f = f = f\circ 1_A.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/e/c/aece5511fa01764dfc5258e44f54823bb93c2e2c.png)
The class of all morphisms of is denoted 
.
A category is called small if both 
and are sets. If is not small, then it is called large. is called locally small if 
is a set for all 
. Most important categories in math are not small, but are locally small.
Intuitively we can think of the objects of as being sets (perhaps with some additional structure) and morphisms as being functions between these sets (perhaps satisfying some properties) and composition as being regular function composition, however there are examples of categories which do not satisfy this. Typically when studying category theory we deal with morphisms and composition completely abstractly (similarly to how we study multiplication abstractly in group theory), and never talk about 'plugging things in to' morphisms.
Examples
Some common examples of categories are:
- The category Set of all sets, where morphisms are functions.
- The category Grp of all groups, where morphisms are group homomorphisms.
- The category Ab of all abelian groups, where morphisms are group homomorphisms.
- The category Ring of all rings, where morphisms are ring homomorphisms.
- The category Field of all fields, where morphisms are field homomorphisms (notice that this means all morphisms are injective, and so they can be viewed as field extensions).
- The category Vect of all vector spaces, where morphisms are linear maps.
- The category Top of all topological spaces, where morphisms are continuous functions.
- The category Cat of all small categories, where morphisms are functors.
- For any categories
and 
, the functor category 
of functors 
where morphisms are natural transformations. - For any set
, we can form the discrete category on whose objects are elements of and such that the only morphisms are the identity morphisms on each object. - For any category we can form the opposite category or the dual category,
whose objects are the objects of , but where all the morphisms are 'reversed' (i.e. a morphism from to 
would be replaced by a morphism from to ).
, the functor category 
of functors 
where morphisms are 
, we can form the 
whose objects are the objects of 
would be replaced by a morphism from This article is a stub. Help us out by expanding it.
