Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 22 / 1 / a / Solution

For a locally small category $\mathcal{C}$, an object $C$, and a categorical presheaf $X:{\mathcal{C}}^{\mathrm{op}}\to \mathbf{Set}$, the Yoneda lemma gives the natural bijectionIts two maps are explicitlyFor $u:A^{\prime }\to A$, the equation $X(u)X(f)(x)=X(fu)(x)$ proves naturality of $\Psi (x)$. Evaluating it at the identity morphism gives $\Phi \Psi (x)=x$. Conversely, naturality of $\alpha$ at $f:A\to C$ givesso $\Psi \Phi (\alpha )=\alpha$. Evaluation at the identity and transport of an element along a morphism are mutually inverse.

The bijection is natural in both variables: a natural transformation $\theta :X\Rightarrow Y$ sends $\Phi (\alpha )$ to ${\theta }_C(\Phi (\alpha ))$, matching $\Phi (\theta \alpha )$; and $g:C\to C^{\prime }$ givesFor completeness, the covariant Yoneda lemma for $Y:\mathcal{C}\to \mathbf{Set}$ is $\mathrm{Nat}(\mathcal{C}(C,-),Y)\cong Y(C)$, with $\alpha \mapsto {\alpha }_C(1_C)$ and inverse $y\mapsto (f:C\to A\mapsto Y(f)(y))$.