In the

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

field of

category theory Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Nowadays, cate ...

, the category of sets, denoted as Set, is the

category Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses * Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) * ...

whose

objects Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

are sets. The arrows or

morphism In mathematics, particularly in category theory, a morphism is a structure-preserving map from one mathematical structure to another one of the same type. The notion of morphism recurs in much of contemporary mathematics. In set theory, morphisms a ...

s between sets ''A'' and ''B'' are the

total function In mathematics, a partial function from a set to a set is a function from a subset of (possibly itself) to . The subset , that is, the domain of viewed as a function, is called the domain of definition of . If equals , that is, if is d ...

s from ''A'' to ''B'', and the composition of morphisms is the

composition of functions In mathematics, function composition is an operation that takes two functions and , and produces a function such that . In this operation, the function is applied to the result of applying the function to . That is, the functions and ...

. Many other categories (such as the

category of groups In mathematics, the category Grp (or Gp) has the class of all groups for objects and group homomorphisms for morphisms. As such, it is a concrete category. The study of this category is known as group theory. Relation to other categories There a ...

, with

group homomorphisms In mathematics, given two groups, (''G'', ∗) and (''H'', ·), a group homomorphism from (''G'', ∗) to (''H'', ·) is a function ''h'' : ''G'' → ''H'' such that for all ''u'' and ''v'' in ''G'' it holds that : h(u*v) = h(u) \cdot h(v) ...

as arrows) add structure to the objects of the category of sets and/or restrict the arrows to functions of a particular kind.

Properties of the category of sets

The axioms of a category are satisfied by Set because composition of functions is associative, and because every set ''X'' has an

identity function Graph of the identity function on the real numbers In mathematics, an identity function, also called an identity relation, identity map or identity transformation, is a function that always returns the value that was used as its argument, un ...

id_''X'' : ''X'' → ''X'' which serves as identity element for function composition. The

epimorphism In category theory, an epimorphism (also called an epic morphism or, colloquially, an epi) is a morphism ''f'' : ''X'' → ''Y'' that is right-cancellative in the sense that, for all objects ''Z'' and all morphisms , : g_1 \circ f = g_2 \circ f ...

s in Set are the

surjective In mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function) is a function that every element can be mapped from element so that . In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the image of one element of i ...

maps, the

monomorphism In the context of abstract algebra or universal algebra, a monomorphism is an injective homomorphism. A monomorphism from to is often denoted with the notation X\hookrightarrow Y. In the more general setting of category theory, a monomorphism ...

s are the

injective In mathematics, an injective function (also known as injection, or one-to-one function) is a function that maps distinct elements of its domain to distinct elements; that is, implies . (Equivalently, implies in the equivalent contrapositiv ...

maps, and the

isomorphism In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word is ...

s are the

bijective In mathematics, a bijection, also known as a bijective function, one-to-one correspondence, or invertible function, is a function between the elements of two sets, where each element of one set is paired with exactly one element of the other ...

maps. The

empty set In mathematics, the empty set is the unique set having no elements; its size or cardinality (count of elements in a set) is zero. Some axiomatic set theories ensure that the empty set exists by including an axiom of empty set, while in other ...

serves as the

initial object In category theory, a branch of mathematics, an initial object of a category is an object in such that for every object in , there exists precisely one morphism . The dual notion is that of a terminal object (also called terminal element): ...

in Set with

empty function In mathematics, a function from a set to a set assigns to each element of exactly one element of .; the words map, mapping, transformation, correspondence, and operator are often used synonymously. The set is called the domain of the functi ...

s as morphisms. Every

singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

is a

terminal object In category theory, a branch of mathematics, an initial object of a category is an object in such that for every object in , there exists precisely one morphism . The dual notion is that of a terminal object (also called terminal element): ...

, with the functions mapping all elements of the source sets to the single target element as morphisms. There are thus no

zero object In category theory, a branch of mathematics, an initial object of a category is an object in such that for every object in , there exists precisely one morphism . The dual notion is that of a terminal object (also called terminal element): ...

s in Set. The category Set is complete and co-complete. The

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

in this category is given by the

cartesian product In mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets ''A'' and ''B'', denoted ''A''×''B'', is the set of all ordered pairs where ''a'' is in ''A'' and ''b'' is in ''B''. In terms of set-builder notation, that is : A\ti ...

of sets. The

coproduct In category theory, the coproduct, or categorical sum, is a construction which includes as examples the disjoint union of sets and of topological spaces, the free product of groups, and the direct sum of modules and vector spaces. The coprodu ...

is given by the

disjoint union In mathematics, a disjoint union (or discriminated union) of a family of sets (A_i : i\in I) is a set A, often denoted by \bigsqcup_ A_i, with an injection of each A_i into A, such that the images of these injections form a partition of A (th ...

: given sets ''A''_''i'' where ''i'' ranges over some index set ''I'', we construct the coproduct as the union of ''A''_''i''× (the cartesian product with ''i'' serves to ensure that all the components stay disjoint). Set is the prototype of a

concrete category In mathematics, a concrete category is a category that is equipped with a faithful functor to the category of sets (or sometimes to another category, ''see Relative concreteness below''). This functor makes it possible to think of the objects of ...

; other categories are concrete if they are "built on" Set in some well-defined way. Every two-element set serves as a

subobject classifier In category theory, a subobject classifier is a special object Ω of a category such that, intuitively, the subobjects of any object ''X'' in the category correspond to the morphisms from ''X'' to Ω. In typical examples, that morphism assigns "true ...

in Set. The power object of a set ''A'' is given by its

power set In mathematics, the power set (or powerset) of a set is the set of all subsets of , including the empty set and itself. In axiomatic set theory (as developed, for example, in the ZFC axioms), the existence of the power set of any set is po ...

, and the

exponential object In mathematics, specifically in category theory, an exponential object or map object is the categorical generalization of a function space in set theory. Categories with all finite products and exponential objects are called cartesian closed c ...

of the sets ''A'' and ''B'' is given by the set of all functions from ''A'' to ''B''. Set is thus a

topos In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a notio ...

(and in particular

cartesian closed In category theory, a category is Cartesian closed if, roughly speaking, any morphism defined on a product of two objects can be naturally identified with a morphism defined on one of the factors. These categories are particularly important in math ...

and exact in the sense of Barr). Set is not abelian,

additive Additive may refer to: Mathematics * Additive function, a function in number theory * Additive map, a function that preserves the addition operation * Additive set-functionn see Sigma additivity * Additive category, a preadditive category with f ...

nor preadditive. Every non-empty set is an

injective object In mathematics, especially in the field of category theory, the concept of injective object is a generalization of the concept of injective module. This concept is important in cohomology, in homotopy theory and in the theory of model categori ...

in Set. Every set is a

projective object In category theory, the notion of a projective object generalizes the notion of a projective module. Projective objects in abelian categories are used in homological algebra. The dual notion of a projective object is that of an injective object. ...

in Set (assuming the

axiom of choice In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that ''a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collectio ...

). The finitely presentable objects in Set are the finite sets. Since every set is a

direct limit In mathematics, a direct limit is a way to construct a (typically large) object from many (typically smaller) objects that are put together in a specific way. These objects may be groups, rings, vector spaces or in general objects from any categor ...

of its finite subsets, the category Set is a locally finitely presentable category. If ''C'' is an arbitrary category, the contravariant functors from ''C'' to Set are often an important object of study. 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 In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a concrete category) is a collection of "objects" that are linked by "arrows". A category has two basic properties: the ability to compose the arrows asso ...

(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 category, a

functor category In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a functor category D^C is a category where the objects are the functors F: C \to D and the morphisms are natural transformations \eta: F \to G between the functors (here, G: C \to D is another object in t ...

known as the category of presheaves on ''C''.

Foundations for the category of sets

Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such as ...

the collection of all sets is not a set; this follows from the

axiom of foundation In mathematics, the axiom of regularity (also known as the axiom of foundation) is an axiom of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory that states that every non-empty set ''A'' contains an element that is disjoint from ''A''. In first-order logic, the ax ...

. One refers to collections that are not sets as

proper class Proper may refer to: Mathematics * Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact * Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...

es. One cannot handle proper classes as one handles sets; in particular, one cannot write that those proper classes belong to a collection (either a set or a proper class). This is a problem because it means that the category of sets cannot be formalized straightforwardly in this setting. Categories like Set whose collection of objects forms a proper class are known as large categories, to distinguish them from the small categories whose objects form a set. One way to resolve the problem is to work in a system that gives formal status to proper classes, such as

NBG set theory NBG may refer to: * Namibian Black German, a pidgin variant of the German language native to Namibia *Natal Border Guard, a military unit of the Colony of Natal during the Anglo-Zulu War *National Bank of Georgia *National Bank of Greece * Naval Ai ...

. In this setting, categories formed from sets are said to be ''small'' and those (like Set) that are formed from proper classes are said to be ''large''. Another solution is to assume the existence of

Grothendieck universe In mathematics, a Grothendieck universe is a set ''U'' with the following properties: # If ''x'' is an element of ''U'' and if ''y'' is an element of ''x'', then ''y'' is also an element of ''U''. (''U'' is a transitive set.) # If ''x'' and ''y'' a ...

s. Roughly speaking, a Grothendieck universe is a set which is itself a model of ZF(C) (for instance if a set belongs to a universe, its elements and its powerset will belong to the universe). The existence of Grothendieck universes (other than the empty set and the set

V_\omega

of all

hereditarily finite set In mathematics and set theory, hereditarily finite sets are defined as finite sets whose elements are all hereditarily finite sets. In other words, the set itself is finite, and all of its elements are finite sets, recursively all the way down to t ...

s) is not implied by the usual ZF axioms; it is an additional, independent axiom, roughly equivalent to the existence of strongly inaccessible cardinals. Assuming this extra axiom, one can limit the objects of Set to the elements of a particular universe. (There is no "set of all sets" within the model, but one can still reason about the class ''U'' of all inner sets, i.e., elements of ''U''.) In one variation of this scheme, the class of sets is the union of the entire tower of Grothendieck universes. (This is necessarily a

, but each Grothendieck universe is a set because it is an element of some larger Grothendieck universe.) However, one does not work directly with the "category of all sets". Instead, theorems are expressed in terms of the category Set_''U'' whose objects are the elements of a sufficiently large Grothendieck universe ''U'', and are then shown not to depend on the particular choice of ''U''. As a foundation for

, this approach is well matched to a system like

Tarski–Grothendieck set theory Tarski–Grothendieck set theory (TG, named after mathematicians Alfred Tarski and Alexander Grothendieck) is an axiomatic set theory. It is a non-conservative extension of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZFC) and is distinguished from other axiom ...

in which one cannot reason directly about proper classes; its principal disadvantage is that a theorem can be true of all Set_''U'' but not of Set. Various other solutions, and variations on the above, have been proposed. The same issues arise with other concrete categories, such as the

or the

category of topological spaces In mathematics, the category of topological spaces, often denoted Top, is the category whose objects are topological spaces and whose morphisms are continuous maps. This is a category because the composition of two continuous maps is again contin ...

Notes

References

* * *Lawvere, F.W
An elementary theory of the category of sets (long version) with commentary
* * *

External links

A231344 Number of morphisms in full subcategories of Set spanned by
at

OEIS The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) is an online database of integer sequences. It was created and maintained by Neil Sloane while researching at AT&T Labs. He transferred the intellectual property and hosting of the OEIS to the ...

. {{Foundations-footer Foundations of mathematics Sets Basic concepts in set theory

Properties of the category of sets

Foundations for the category of sets

See also

Notes

References

External links