Category Theory
Zulip Server
Archive

You're reading the public-facing archive of the Category Theory Zulip server.
To join the server you need an invite. Anybody can get an invite by contacting Matteo Capucci at name dot surname at gmail dot com.
For all things related to this archive refer to the same person.


Stream: learning: questions

Topic: Terminology capturing "domain" and "codomain"


view this post on Zulip Shea Levy (Oct 15 2020 at 16:44):

Given f:ABf : A \to B, is there some word that can refer to either A or B or both? An "endpoint" of f maybe?

view this post on Zulip Chad Nester (Oct 15 2020 at 16:53):

(co)domain :stuck_out_tongue:

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Oct 15 2020 at 16:55):

Boundary?

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Oct 15 2020 at 17:08):

(This terminology is grounded in the simplicial pov on categories)

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Oct 15 2020 at 17:08):

(Not that it makes it better, though)

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Oct 15 2020 at 17:08):

(In fact I like Chad's better :laughing: )

view this post on Zulip Reid Barton (Oct 15 2020 at 17:08):

When would you use this term?

view this post on Zulip Chad Nester (Oct 15 2020 at 17:15):

I actually use "boundary" when I'm drawing string diagrams, since in this case it's literally one of the boundaries of the diagram.

view this post on Zulip Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Oct 15 2020 at 17:15):

Oh right, in that context is perfect

view this post on Zulip Fabrizio Genovese (Oct 15 2020 at 17:57):

To my knowledge in standard category theory AA and BB are called source and target, respectively. Domain and codomain are also acceptable, even if those are mainly preferred when working with sets and functions.

view this post on Zulip David Michael Roberts (Oct 15 2020 at 22:25):

I sometimes use 'source/target' to refer to A and B together (better, imho, than (co)domain)

view this post on Zulip sarahzrf (Oct 16 2020 at 00:55):

Fabrizio Genovese said:

To my knowledge in standard category theory AA and BB are called source and target, respectively. Domain and codomain are also acceptable, even if those are mainly preferred when working with sets and functions.

personally i say domain/codomain much more often than source/target no matter what kind of category i'm working with :thinking:

view this post on Zulip Fabrizio Genovese (Oct 17 2020 at 10:02):

Me too. But according to MacLane "source/target" is the preferred terminology, if I recall correctly

view this post on Zulip Fawzi Hreiki (Oct 17 2020 at 10:20):

If I recall correctly, Mac Lane uses the ‘source/target’ terminology when talking about graphs

view this post on Zulip Fawzi Hreiki (Oct 17 2020 at 10:21):

But then switches mostly to domain and codomain when talking about categories proper

view this post on Zulip Fawzi Hreiki (Oct 17 2020 at 10:22):

I think the source/target terminology usually signifies that the categories being dealt with are ‘geometric’ or ‘small’ in some way

view this post on Zulip Fawzi Hreiki (Oct 17 2020 at 10:22):

For example with internal categories

view this post on Zulip Jules Hedges (Oct 17 2020 at 10:48):

Clearly it should be "the blunt end" and "the pointy end"

view this post on Zulip David Michael Roberts (Oct 18 2020 at 07:29):

Fawzi Hreiki said:

I think the source/target terminology usually signifies that the categories being dealt with are ‘geometric’ or ‘small’ in some way

This feels like the sort of thing done by people who define a groupoid to be a small category with all arrows invertible.

view this post on Zulip Morgan Rogers (he/him) (Oct 18 2020 at 09:51):

domain/codomain captures the duality nicely. A morphism in the dual of a category goes from its codomain to its cocodomain :wink: