Questions tagged [yoneda-lemma]

For questions related to Yoneda lemma in category theory, which *basically* says (among many other things it says) that every locally small category can be embedded nicely into it's functor category into the category of Sets. Use this tag along with (abstract-algebra) or (category-theory).

For a locally small category $\mathcal{C}$ and any two objects $A$ and $B$ of $\mathcal{C}$, the collection of all morphisms from $A$ to $B$, denoted $\mathrm{Hom}(A,B)$ is a set. With this in mind, for each object $A$ we get a functor $h^A \colon \mathcal{C} \to \text{Set}$ where each object $X$ of $\mathcal{C}$ gets sent to the set $\mathrm{Hom}(A,X)$. This functor $h^A$ is often more tersely denoted as $\mathrm{Hom}(A,{-})$. In summary, each object $A$ gives you a functor $h^A$.

Now let $\text{Set}^\mathcal{C}$ denote the category of all functors from $\mathcal{C}$ to $\text{Set}$; for two functor $F$ and $G$, the morphisms from $F$ to $G$ are the natural transformations from $F$ to $G$, and will be denoted $\mathrm{Nat}(F,G)$. Using the previous idea, we can define a single functor $よ \colon \mathcal{C} \to \text{Set}^\mathcal{C}$ that sends an object $A$ to its functor $h^A$.

Yoneda Lemma ­— For any object $A$ of $\mathcal{C}$ and any functor $F$ in $\text{Set}^\mathcal{C}$, there is a natural isomorphism of sets $\mathrm{Nat}(h^A,F) \cong F(A)$.

Corollary — The functor $よ$ is fully faithful. For this reason $よ$ is called the Yoneda embedding.

You could tell an analogous story using the contravariant functor $h_A = \text{Hom}({-},A)$ instead.

Further Reading

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What use is the Yoneda lemma?

Although I know very little category theory, I really do find it a pretty branch of mathematics and consider it quite useful, especially when it comes to laying down definitions and unifying diverse concepts. Many of the tools of category theory…
Alex Becker
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Yoneda-Lemma as generalization of Cayley`s theorem?

I came across the statement that Yoneda-lemma is a generalization of Cayley`s theorem which states, that every group is isomorphic to a group of permutations. How exactly is Yoneda-lemma a generalization of Cayley`s theorem? Can Cayley's theorem be…
Jan
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Yoneda Lemma Exercises

Can you please suggest some (relatively simple) exercises to practice the use of the Yoneda Lemma? Harder exercises are welcome too, but I would like to start with simpler ones. The answers to this question helped me understand the general context…
Amy
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Basic Example of Yoneda Lemma?

I have been digging the whole internet and books on category theory trying to understand the Yoneda Lemma. I have read the Tom Leinster's "Yoneda Lemma: Whas is it all about?", and watched the talk of Steve Awdoey on that subject as well. Both of…
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Is there a Yoneda lemma for categories other than Set?

The Yoneda lemma says (in my understanding) that instead of studying a category directly, you can study that category's relationships between its relationships into Set. Is the function of Set unique here? Or can other categories like Top do…
MalDLittle
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Yoneda lemma as a generalisation of Cayley's theorem

I have seen answers in questions asking the same question. They have first described what is Yoneda lemma and then deduced Cayley's theorem from that. I am not asking for that. I am planing to explain Yoneda lemma for a group of students who know…
user87543
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Question on the “Yoneda perspective”

One of the consequences of the Yoneda embedding is that, given a category $C$ and two objects $A, B$ in $C$, we can obtain an isomorphism between $A$ and $B$ by finding a natural isomorphism between the presheaves $\mathrm{Hom}_C(-, A)$ and…
user541020
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For which categories is its Yoneda embedding essentially surjective?

For a locally small category $\mathcal{C}$, you can embed $\mathcal{C}$ in the functor category $\mathrm{Set}^\mathcal{C}$ via the functor $X \mapsto \mathrm{Hom}_\mathcal{C}(X,{-})$. This embedding is fully faithful by Yoneda's lemma. But for which…
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Proof of Yoneda Lemma

Can anyone explain to me Yoneda Lemma proof in great details? i.e. they usually say " ... it is easy to see that these morphisms are inverse to each other.." without explanation.
user17090
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Is there a connection between the Whitney embedding theorem and Cayley's theorem?

Background: I've been working through Guillemin and Pollack's "Differential Topology." They take the approach of defining smooth manifolds as "concrete" submanifolds of some ambient $\mathbb R^N$, as opposed to "abstract" topological spaces with…
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On functors agreeing with the powerset functor on objects and not being isomorphic to it

Recall the powerset functor $\mathcal{P}:\mathbf{Set} \to \mathbf{Set}$ defined as $\mathcal{P}(X) = 2^{X} = \{U\subseteq X\}$ on objects $\mathcal{P}(f: X \to Y): \mathcal{P}(X) \to \mathcal{P}(Y),\ \ \ \mathcal{P}(f)(U) = f(U)$ on morphisms Are…
ComFreek
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Why presheaves are generalized objects?

While self studying category theory (Yoneda lemma), I came across the statement that for any category $\mathsf{C}$ the functor category $\mathsf{Fun}(\mathsf{C}^{op}, \mathsf{Set})$ represents generalized objects of $\mathsf{C}.$ Here generalized…
Bumblebee
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bivariate Yoneda lemma

$\newcommand{\Hom}{\operatorname{Hom}}$Any category is equipped with a covariant hom-functor $\Hom(A,-)$, by letting the second argument vary. The covariant Yoneda lemma says $\operatorname{Nat}(\Hom(A,-),F)\cong F(A)$ for any covariant functor $F$.…
John Daniels
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Size of a natural transformation and the Yoneda Lemma

Appearing on the second page (under the section Digression: Size worries) of the following paper about the Yoneda Lemma: http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~tl/categories/yoneda.ps It says that $a$ $priori$ $[\mathcal C^{op},Set](H_A,X))$ is a class. I…
user52534
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How can we quickly verify naturality?

The Yoneda lemma is sometimes claimed to simplify proofs. For instance, the associativity of binary products can be proved by considering $\hom(X, (A \times B) \times C)$, and by the bijection of sets $(U \times V) \times W \cong U \times (V \times…
Trebor
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