Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 17 9 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A monad on consists of an endofunctor and natural transformations , satisfying the unit and multiplication of a monad lawsAn algebra for a monad is an object equipped with such thatA morphism of algebras for a monad is a morphism satisfying . Identities and composition obey this equation, giving the Eilenberg-Moore category and its forgetful functor .
For an adjunction with induced monad , the Eilenberg-Moore comparison functor isThe functor is monadic when it has such a left adjoint and this comparison is an equivalence of categories; a stricter convention requires an isomorphism of categories over . We will identify which limit-lifting conclusion each convention supports in part (iii).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 23 7 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A monad on consists of an endofunctor and natural transformations and satisfying, at every object ,These are the unit and associativity laws for the unit and multiplication of a monad.
An algebra for a monad is a pair with satisfyingA monad algebra morphism is a morphism with . Identities satisfy this condition, and composing two such maps preserves it by functoriality of . The resulting Eilenberg-Moore category is denoted . Its forgetful functor sends to and leaves the underlying arrows unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 25 6 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Define the forgetful functor , acting as the identity on underlying morphisms. Define the free algebra functor byThe monad laws make an algebra for a monad structure, and naturality of makes an monad algebra morphism.
For , define the transpose mapsThe map is an monad algebra morphism, because naturality of and the algebra associativity law giveFor , naturality of gives . Conversely, if is an monad algebra morphism, thenPrecomposing by a map into or postcomposing by an monad algebra morphism respects both formulas. Thus the bijection is natural and . This is the free-forgetful Eilenberg-Moore adjunction.
Its adjunction unit is the given ; its adjunction counit at is the monad algebra morphism . Hence , and the induced multiplication is the underlying counit at , namely . Therefore this adjunction induces exactly the original monad, including its unit and multiplication of a monad.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 18 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A monad consists of an endofunctor and natural transformations and , the unit and multiplication of a monad, satisfyingAn algebra for a monad is with satisfying and . A morphism of algebras for a monad satisfies . These objects and morphisms form the Eilenberg-Moore category ; its composition works because is a functor.
For the list monad, is the set of finite ordered lists, including the empty list. The map applies to each entry; and concatenates a list of lists. The unit laws say that adding singleton brackets and then flattening changes nothing. Associativity says that flattening a list of lists of lists in either order produces the same ordered sequence. These descriptions also prove naturality.
If is an algebra for a monad, defineThe singleton law gives . Apply the algebra associativity law to and to obtain . Applying it to and showsThus is a monoid. Applying the same law to shows inductively that is necessarily ordered multiplication of its entries, with the empty product .
Conversely, any monoid defines such a list-fold map . The monoid unit proves , and associativity and the unit prove that multiplying flattened lists equals multiplying their individual products, including empty sublists. Hence . An algebra morphism preserves the empty-list value and two-entry-list values, so it is a monoid homomorphism; conversely a monoid homomorphism preserves every ordered product and is an algebra morphism. ThereforeThus list-monad algebras are monoids, with the identification also matching every morphism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 22 6 c i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
If the multiplication in the unit and multiplication of a monad is invertible, the two unit identities of the monadmake both and its inverse. Hence idempotence implies equality of the two unit insertions:This is the first implication in the characterization of an idempotent monad.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 122 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An opmonoidal monad on a monoidal category is a monad whose endofunctor is an opmonoidal functor and whose unit and multiplication of a monad are opmonoidal natural transformations. Suppress only the canonical parentheses. Explicitly,The composite opmonoidal functor has tensor comparison and unit comparison , explaining the last two equations.
For two algebras for a monad and , defineLet . The unit law for a monad algebra follows at once from the opmonoidality of :For the multiplication law, naturality of , the algebra laws, and the opmonoidality of giveThe two unit-comparison equations above similarly make a algebra for a monad. If are morphisms of algebras for a monad, naturality of shows that is an algebra morphism.
For a third algebra , the base associator is also an algebra morphism: its intertwining equation is precisely the opmonoidal associativity axiom, followed by . The two base unitors are algebra morphisms by the opmonoidal unit axioms. Their pentagon and triangle commute because they commute after the faithful forgetful functor, and the lifted maps have exactly the same underlying morphisms.
The Eilenberg-Moore category is therefore monoidal, with these lifted constraints. Its forgetful functor preserves the tensor product, unit object and constraints exactly, so it is a strict monoidal functor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 122 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
On the monoidal category of modules over the commutative ring , consider the monad coming from the unit and multiplication of the bialgebra . Its opmonoidal functor structure has comparison mapsHere and below Sweedler notation abbreviates the comultiplication . The opmonoidal associativity and unit axioms are the coassociativity and counit laws of the coalgebra. The unit and multiplication of a monad are opmonoidal natural transformations because the bialgebra axioms sayThe Eilenberg-Moore category of this opmonoidal monad is the category of left -modules: a monad-algebra map is exactly a unital associative action.
Applying the preceding construction gives the diagonal bialgebra action and the unit actionThe usual associators and unitors for the tensor product of modules are -linear, and the underlying tensor product is exactly . The forgetful functor into -modules is strict monoidal. The base need not be a field; the modules need be neither flat modules nor finitely generated modules.