Left lifting property against monomorphisms 2026-10-06
A map has this property if every commutative square with as its left side and a monomorphism as its right side has a diagonal filler . The filler is unique because is monic. This definition does not itself stipulate that is an epimorphism; binary products imply that conclusion by testing against the categorical diagonal.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 17 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Given , their product in a category is the pullback of the unique arrows , where is a terminal object. Having constructed this product in a category, define the equalizer of as the pullbackwhere is the categorical diagonal. A map factors through this pullback exactly when : the accompanying arrow to must equal this common composite. The factorization is unique, proving the equalizer property.
Thus the hypotheses give a terminal object, binary products in a category and all equalizers. Part (i) now gives all finite limits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 20 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be a terminal object. The pullback in a category of has precisely the universal property of the binary product in a category : every pair of morphisms to is compatible over . Repeated binary products in a category, together with as the empty product, give all finite products in a category.
For , form the pullback in a category of the categorical diagonal along . Its projection satisfies . If satisfies , the pair gives a unique morphism into this pullback in a category. Conversely any such morphism must project to that pair. Hence is the equalizer of . The preceding construction now gives all finite limits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A monomorphism is a morphism such that implies for every pair . Dually, an epimorphism satisfies . A regular epimorphism is a coequalizer of some parallel pair. An isomorphism has a two-sided inverse.
For a product in a category, write for its categorical diagonal. Since , equality gives . Thus the diagonal is a monomorphism, indeed a split monomorphism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let have the left lifting property against monomorphisms, and suppose satisfy . Use the categorical diagonal , which is a monomorphism by part (a). The square with top arrow , bottom arrow , left arrow and right arrow commutes, since both product components are .
Its lift satisfies . Applying the two product in a category projections gives and . Thus is an epimorphism. This binary-product criterion for lifting-only strong epimorphisms requires binary products, rather than any assumption about equalizers.