Structure

Implication details

Claim: If a category is direct, then it has sequential limits.

Proof: Assume that ⋯→A2→A1→A0\cdots \to A_2 \to A_1 \to A_0 is a sequence of morphisms. We will prove that almost all of them are identities, so that the sequence is eventually constant and the limit exists. Assume the opposite, i.e. that there are infinitely many Ak→Ak−1A_k \to A_{k-1} which are not the identity. Pick some n1n_1 such that An1→An1−1A_{n_1} \to A_{n_1 - 1} is not the identity, and let n0≔n1−1n_0 \coloneqq n_1 - 1. If Ani→Ani−1A_{n_i} \to A_{n_{i-1}} has been constructed, there is some ni+1>nin_{i+1} > n_i such that the composite Ani+1→AniA_{n_{i+1}} \to A_{n_i} is not the identity, because otherwise it would follow inductively that all Ak+1→AkA_{k+1} \to A_k, k≥nik \geq n_i would be identities, which would contradict our infiniteness assumption. This way we construct an infinite sequence of non-identity morphisms Ani+1→AniA_{n_{i+1}} \to A_{n_i}, a contradiction.

This implication has a dual.

Show 19 categories using this implication