Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2001 / iii / Paper 17 / 6 / ii / Solution

A Cartesian closed category has finite products in a category and, for all $X,Y$, an exponential object $Y^X$ with a natural bijectionEquivalently the functor $-\times X$ has a right adjoint. Its counit of an adjunction is the evaluation map of an exponential object $Y^X\times X\to Y$.

For the presheaf category, define the exponential in a presheaf category byFor $f:D\to C$, its restriction sends $\alpha$ to $\alpha \circ (h_f\times 1_X)$. Composition of these restriction maps follows from composition of the $h_f$, so this is a categorical presheaf. Define evaluation map of an exponential object byFor $f:D\to C$, naturality of $\alpha$ givesThus $e$ is a natural transformation.

Given a natural transformation $\beta :Z\times X\to Y$, define its currying byNaturality of $\beta$ proves that ${\hat{\beta }}_C(z)$ is a natural transformation $h_C\times X\to Y$. For $f:C^{\prime }\to C$, the same formula proves that $\hat{\beta }:Z\to Y^X$ is natural. Evaluating at $g=1_C$ gives $e(\hat{\beta }\times 1_X)=\beta$.

Conversely, if $\gamma :Z\to Y^X$ and $\beta =e(\gamma \times 1_X)$, thenby naturality of $\gamma$. Hence the two constructions are inverse and natural in $Z,Y$. Products are available pointwise, including the terminal singleton presheaf, so the presheaf category is Cartesian closed. The exponential uses natural transformations out of $h_C\times X$; simply exponentiating the individual values generally does not give this object.