Categories, functors, and universal constructions

Organize mathematical structures with universal properties, natural transformations, adjunctions, and categorical limits.

10 published lessons1 module340 min of guided study
  1. 01
    Categories, functors, and universal constructionsadvanced · 10 lessons

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Categories, functors, and universal constructions

Organize mathematical structures with universal properties, natural transformations, adjunctions, and categorical limits.

  1. 01

    Categories, morphisms, and composition

    Build categories from typed arrows and distinguish smallness, composition, and isomorphism.

    34 min
  2. 02

    Functors and natural transformations

    Preserve categorical structure and test compatibility across every arrow of a diagram.

    34 min
  3. 03

    Universal properties and representable functors

    Describe an object by a natural family of mapping problems and a universal element.

    34 min
  4. 04

    The Yoneda lemma and fully faithful functors

    Recover natural transformations from identity arrows and track the variance of represented presheaves.

    34 min
  5. 05

    Products, coproducts, and equalizers

    Build finite universal constructions and verify their mapping directions explicitly.

    34 min
  6. 06

    Limits, colimits, and comma categories

    Organize compatible diagrams with universal cones and compute finite pullbacks and pushouts.

    34 min
  7. 07

    Adjoint functors and the unit–counit equations

    Calculate a natural Hom bijection and verify the triangle identities in a finite currying example.

    34 min
  8. 08

    Monads and algebras for a monad

    Flatten nested finite subsets and verify the unit and algebra laws by explicit calculation.

    34 min
  9. 09

    Equivalences, localizations, and inverting morphisms

    Compare categorical presentations and enforce inversion by a universal mapping property.

    34 min
  10. 10

    Enriched and monoidal categories

    Replace Hom sets by structured objects and interpret directed shortest paths as enriched composition.

    34 min
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