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For example, the initial object in any concrete category with free objects will be the free object generated by the empty set (since the free functor, being left adjoint to the forgetful functor to Set, preserves colimits). Initial and terminal objects may also be characterized in terms of universal properties and adjoint functors.
Universal constructions are functorial in nature: if one can carry out the construction for every object in a category C then one obtains a functor on C. Furthermore, this functor is a right or left adjoint to the functor U used in the definition of the universal property. [2] Universal properties occur everywhere in mathematics.
A monoid object in [C, C] is a monad on C. For any category with a terminal object and finite products, every object becomes a comonoid object via the diagonal morphism Δ X : X → X × X. Dually in a category with an initial object and finite coproducts every object becomes a monoid object via id X ⊔ id X : X ⊔ X → X.
If A is an object of C, then the functor from C to Set that sends X to Hom C (X,A) (the set of morphisms in C from X to A) is an example of such a functor. If C is a small category (i.e. the collection of its objects forms a set), then the contravariant functors from C to Set, together with natural transformations as morphisms, form a new ...
Dually, a final coalgebra is a terminal object in the category of F-coalgebras. The finality provides a general framework for coinduction and corecursion. For example, using the same functor 1 + (−) as before, a coalgebra is defined as a set X together with a function f : X → (1 + X).
Given a diagram F: J → C (thought of as an object in C J), a natural transformation ψ : Δ(N) → F (which is just a morphism in the category C J) is the same thing as a cone from N to F. To see this, first note that Δ(N)(X) = N for all X implies that the components of ψ are morphisms ψ X : N → F(X), which all share the domain N.
The unit type is the terminal object in the category of types and typed functions. It should not be confused with the zero or empty type, which allows no values and is the initial object in this category. Similarly, the Boolean is the type with two values. The unit type is implemented in most functional programming languages.
Formally, we start with a category C with finite products (i.e. C has a terminal object 1 and any two objects of C have a product). A group object in C is an object G of C together with morphisms. m : G × G → G (thought of as the "group multiplication") e : 1 → G (thought of as the "inclusion of the identity element")