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Preface to the special issue: commutativity of algebraic diagrams

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2012

RALPH MATTHES
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse (IRIT), C.N.R.S. et Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III), 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
SERGEI SOLOVIEV
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse (IRIT), C.N.R.S. et Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III), 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
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The problem of the commutativity of algebraic (categorical) diagrams has attracted the attention of researchers for a long time. For example, the related notion of coherence was discussed in Mac Lane's homology book Mac Lane (1963), see also his AMS presidential address Mac Lane (1976). Researchers in category theory view this problem from a specific angle, and for them it is not just a question of convenient notation, though it is worth mentioning the important role that notation plays in the development of science (take, for example, the progress made after the introduction of symbolic notation in logics or matrix notation in algebra). In 1976, Peter Freyd published the paper ‘Properties Invariant within Equivalence Types of Categories’ (Freyd 1976), where the central role is played by the notion of a ‘diagrammatic property’. We may also recall the process of ‘diagram chasing’, and its applications in topology and algebra. But before we can use diagrams (and the principal property of a diagram is its commutativity), it is vital for us to be able to check whether a diagram is commutative.

Type
Editorial Preface
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

References

Freyd, P. (1976) Properties Invariant within Equivalence Types of Categories. In: Heller, A. and Tierney, M. (eds.) Algebra, Topology and Category Theories, Academic Press 5561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mac Lane, S. (1963) Homology, Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mac Lane, S. (1976) Topology and Logic as a Source of Algebra. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 82 (1)140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar