Category theory Definition and 59 Threads

I was a little bit rereading the entry on Category Theory here: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/category-theory/ And it's written there: What on earth is 'aggregate', and what are those abstract elements? Every possible mathematical object or philosophical object? :oldbiggrin: Well...

I am highly interested in Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) and am currently planning on doing a project on this topic this year. Some of my relevant background: Algebra (Groups, Rings, Fields, basics of Categories and Modules), Topology (Munkres), Smooth Manifolds (John Lee's book, first...

The physical world is highly parallel; many things are happening side by side simultaneously. This is true not only at the macroscopic scales that we can see but as far as we know down to the subatomic scales. This is referred to as the principle of locality [1], which states that an object is...

Remember when I used a video with a coconut in the thumbnail to drive a stake through the heart of mathematical structure? Today, in this introduction to the...

Hello, does anyone can help me with these tasks: I have no idea how to solve it

I have a question that is related to categories and physics. I was reading this paper by John Baez in which he describes a TQFT as a functor from the category nCob (n-dimensional cobordisms) to Vector spaces. https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0404040.pdf. At the beginning of the paper @john baez...

YouTube has been suggesting videos about category theory of late, and I have spent some time skimming through them, without really understanding where it's all going. A question came to mind, namely: It seems reasonably conceivable that group theory could perhaps supply a vital key to the...

Are Type Theory and Category Theory alternatives to Set Theory?

Let ##d_1## and ##d_2## be two metrics on the same set ##X##. We say that ##d_1## and ##d_2## are equivalent if the identity map from ##(X,d_1)## to ##(X,d_2)## and its inverse are continuous. We say that they’re uniformly equivalent if the identity map and its inverse are uniformly...

It goes without saying that theoretical physics has over the years become overrun with countless distinct - yet sometimes curiously very similar - theories, in some cases even dozens of directly competing theories. Within the foundations things can get far worse once we start to run into...

I am reading Steve Awodey's book: Category Theory (Second Edition) and am focused on Section 1.5 Isomorphisms ... I need some further help in order to fully understand some aspects of Definition 1.4, Page 12 ... ... The start of Section 1.5, including Definition 1.4 ... reads as...

I am reading Steve Awodey's book: Category Theory (Second Edition) and am focused on Section 1.5 Isomorphisms ... I need some further help in order to fully understand some further aspects of Definition 1.3, Page 12, including some remarks Awodey makes after the text of the definition ... ...

I am reading Tom Leinster's book: "Basic Category Theory" and am focused on Chapter 1: Introduction where Leinster explains the basic idea of universal properties ... I need help in order to fully understand the proof of Lemma 0.7 ... Lemma 0.7 and its proof read as follows:In the above proof...

Hi. Usually, Computer Programmers use Flow Charts, Algorithms, or UML diagrams to build a great software or system. In the same manner, in Mathematics, what do Mathematicians use to build a great system that they want to build. Category Theory is at the highest level of abstraction; then...

I understand that in group theory, a group consists of a set and a binary operation for the elements in the set, and of course all the group axioms. But if we move away from set theory into category theory, is a group defined on a category?

Urs Schreiber submitted a new PF Insights post Why Higher Category Theory in Physics? Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Hello. I am about to start learning category theory. I keep hearing mixed opinions on the book Categories for the Working Mathematician, by Sanders MacLane (I am aware he is one of the founders of the theory). Some say it's a "must read", and others have called it "outdated." What would seem...

I'm trying to learn Category Theory; this isn't homework or anything. I've attached a problem from the text "Basic Homological Algebra" by Osborne and I show my attempt at a solution. My solution doesn't seem exactly correct and I state why in the attachment as well. Can someone take a look...

I was impressed how in R. Geroch's book, Mathematical Physics, category theory is used to unify so many different branches of mathematics. Is there a single framework that, in a similar way, unifies many or all branches of physics? If so, what are some good resources for learning it? So far...

I am a final year math major thinking of taking Category Theory (CT). The problem is people keep telling me its useless. Why? I have a biology degree and decided to get a second degree in mathematics. My motivation for studying mathematics is related partly to an idea I stumbled across in high...

Homework Statement Coproducts exist in Grp. This starts on page 71. of his Algebra. Homework Equations [/B] Allow me to present the proof in it's entirety, modified only where it's convenient or necessary for TeXing it. I've underlined areas where I have issues and bold bracketed off my...

A couple of notes first: 1. \hom_{A}(-,N) is the left-exact functor I'm referring to; Lang gives an exercise in the section preceeding to show this. 2. This might be my own idiosyncrasy but I write TFDC to mean 'The following diagram commutes' 3. Titles are short, so I know that the hom-functor...

I am reading Paolo Aluffi's book, Algebra: Chapter 0. I am currently focused on Chapter I, Section 5: Universal Properties. I need some help Example 5.3 and Exercise 5.2 in this section. QUESTION 1Example 5.3 reads as follows: Can someone clearly explain why \emptyset is initial ... We...

I think this looks like a homework problem, so I'll just put it here. Homework Statement Demonstrate that, for any index category ##\mathscr{J}## and any diagram ##\mathcal{F}:\mathscr{J}\to\mathbf{Sets}##, $$\varprojlim_{\mathscr{J}}A_j=\left\{a\in \prod_{j\in \operatorname{obj}(...

I am reading Steve Awodey's book, "Category Theory" (Second Edition). In Chapter 1 within a small section on monoids, Awodey defines Hom_{Sets} (X,X) as follows: " ... ... for any set X, the set of functions from X to X, written as Hom_{Sets} (X,X) is a monoid under the operation of...

I am beginning to read "Category Theory: Second Edition" by Steve Awodey. On page 12 (see attachment) he defines isomorphisms as follows: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Definition 1.3. In any category, C , an arrow f \ : \ A \to B is called an...

In my reading of various texts on abstract algebra on a number of topics, including recently, tensor products of modules, that a number of authors tend to make use of the concepts of category theory. Do members of MHB believe it is worth investing time on category theory? Will it bring a better...

Hey guys , what is the best book to read about category theory ?

When I was very young, I read a book from the 60's about classical mathematics. I was far too young to understand anything in it of course, but I remember it mentioned that category theory was the new thing that was threatening to become a new foundation for mathematics. So I was wondering...

I am interested in learning category theory, just for extracurricular knowledge so I watched a 30 minute YouTube video but I had no idea what the guy was talking about :( what do I need to know before learning Cat. theory?

I'm looking for a textbook that covers all of the standard undergrad algebra topics but from a more modern perspective. For example, most books reprove the isomorphism theorems for groups, rings, modules, instead of showing that all of these structures are universal algebras. Ideally the text...

I've attached the problem statement and the solution in a pdf file, please check it and see if I've done it correctly. I'm new to abstract reasoning, I've only had a one semester introduction to group-theory and parts of ring theory based on baby Herstein, so I need others to check my proofs to...

well, as always, I initially took a look at what wikipedia says. the idea of talking about general mathematical objects and arrows between them sounds pretty impressive and quite exciting to me, but just like any other math stuff, the idea looks quite simple and the examples that wikipedia gives...

Hi, I was trying to understand coproduct and product as defined in category theory from the website http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Category_Theory/Products_and_Coproducts. Before I could even think of sth difficult there are some simple things which I don't seem to...

I'm looking to start studying Category Theory. What books would you recommend for these? I can't seem to find an introductory book on categories. What is the standard text for such a thing?

I just have a quick, but odd question. Next term I will be taking a Category Theory class with a visiting professor from Moscow. The professor is known to have done most of his work in Physics. Does anyone have any experience using results from Category Theory applied to Physics? It just...

If someone is willing to briefly explain what these three branches of mathematics are about, I'd appreciate it. I don't even understand if they are three completely different things or if they're overlapping a lot. I understand the definition of a category, and Landau just made me aware of the...

I'm stuck with the attached practice problems. does anyone with knowledge of category theory please have solutions?

Is there any free (and legal, obviously) place where I can acquire a copy of Eilenberg and MacLane's paper "The General Theory of Natural Equivalences" on the internet? I'm currently studying category theory and am interested in finding a copy of this paper. Thanks!

Hey all, Okay, let me give this a wack. I want to show that A \times 1 is isomorphic to A. I'm aware that this is trivial, even for a category theory style. However, sticking to the defs and conventions is tricky if you aren't aware of the subtleties, which is why I'm posting this. So here...

I don't understand this proof, specifically the part in red, I don't understand. Please help me understand this step in the proof. Thanks! Let Tors be the category whose objects are torsion abelian groups; if A and B are torsion abelian groups, we define \text{Mor}_{\text{\textbf{Tors}}}(A...

Category theory is considered extremely abstract. What are some other branches of mathematics which are considered as abstract or even more abstract then category theory?

Does anyone know of a good introductory book on category theory?

There is a similar thread below, but I think it is more appropriate to make a new thread because it asks totally different questions. I am new to category theory and thinking about its possible application to computer science. Deductive systems based on first order logic (sound and complete)...

They seem to be different fields but both try to underpin maths. There has been suggestions that set theory is problematic, where some paradoxes cannot be resolved. But how about Category theory? Any problems or paradoxes? Is it more promising then set theory?

Homework Statement Show that there are only two possible categories with one object and two morphisms. Homework Equations None The Attempt at a Solution My thinking here is as follows : Let's say that the object in our category is A, and that the two morphisms are f and 1, where...

As the title says i would like to get recommended some books on Character theory and category theory. I like my books to be really matematically and to not skip corners, but I don't like books that think that I'm a master mind and just write 'clear' or 'easy' instead of proving the theorem...

In category theory,what is the difference between dashed arrow and solid arrow?I am just curious why there is not any textbook which I could find mention about it formally .heh...

I am currently working my way through classical Yang-Mills theory with the help of John Baez's book on gauge fields and some others. I have recently just began to notice the new, well new to myself, research on higher gauge theory. This looks very interesting but I feel that my background in...

Does 'category theory' link different mathematical structures? Can you give a superficial example of how this has been done (eg. Name two mathematical structures and, with waving of hands, explain how they have been linked)? Could you direct me to a link where this has been done elegantly in...