6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4013385FNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Science and Bio-engineering Sciences
Department
Mathematics
Educational team
Ana Agore (course titular)
Activities and contact hours

30 contact hours Lecture
30 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
Course Content
Basic notions:
Categories, Functors and Natural Transformations, Representable functors, The Yoneda Lemma.

Special objects and morphisms in a category:
Monomorphism, Epimorphism, Isomorphism, Initial object, Terminal object, Zero-object.

Constructions:
Dual category, Product of categories, Functorcategory, Commacategory, Free category on a graph.

(Co)limits:
(Co)products, (Co)equalizers, Pullbacks, Pushouts, (Co)limit of a functor, (Co)complete
categories, Limit-preserving functors.

Adjoint functors:
Adjointness of functors, Equivalence of categories, (Co)reflective subcategories, Localization of a category, Freyd's adjoint functor theorem, Kan extensions.

Monads and algebras.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Categorietheorie, Nota's van de titularis zijn beschikbaar
Handbook (Recommended) : Categories for the working mathematician, S. MAC LANE, Second Edition, Springer, 9781441931238, 1978
Handbook (Recommended) : Handbook of categorical algebra 1, F. BORCEUX, Cambridge University Press, 9780521061193, 2008
Handbook (Recommended) : Abstract and concrete categories, J. ADAMEK, H. HERRLICH and G. STRECKER, Wiley, 9780486469348, 2009
Additional info
If necessary, the course will be taught in English. Copies of course notes are available.

Complementary study material:
Literature (available in the library):

J. ADAMEK, H. HERRLICH and G. STRECKER, Abstract and concrete categories, Wiley 1990

F. BORCEUX, Handbook of categorical algebra 1, Cambridge University Press 1994

S. MAC LANE, Categories for the working mathematician, Springer 1971 and Springer 1998 (2nd Edition)
Learning Outcomes

General competencies

The aim of this course is the study of the basic notions of category theory,
their universality in mathematics being illustrated by various concrete examples
from analysis, algebra and topology and from relations between these fields.

Students will learn to work with these notions by solving illuminating exercises,
they will get the feeling for categorical proofs and they will appreciate the strength
of categorical statements.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 70% of the final mark.
Written Exam determines 30% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Mondeling theorie examen with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 70% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Schriftelijk oefeningen examen with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation
Theory: Oral exam (counting for 70%)
Exercises: Written exam (counting for 30%)
Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Mathematics: Fundamental Mathematics (only offered in Dutch)