CatDat

natural numbers object

A natural numbers object (NNO) in a category with finite products is a triple

(N,z:1N,s:NN)(N,\, z : 1 \to N,\, s : N \to N)

satisfying the following universal property: for all f:AXf : A \to X, g:XXg : X \to X there is a unique Φ:A×NX\Phi : A \times N \to X such that Φ(a,z)=f(a)\Phi(a,z)=f(a) and Φ(a,s(n))=g(Φ(a,n))\Phi(a,s(n)) = g(\Phi(a,n)) in element notation.
This concept is an abstraction of the set of natural numbers, which indeed provide a NNO for the category of sets. We have used the parametrized definition here which is more natural (sic!) for categories that are not cartesian closed (cf. Johnstone, Part A, Remark 2.5.3).

Relevant implications

Examples

There are 26 categories with this property.

Counterexamples

There are 44 categories without this property.

Unknown

There are 0 categories for which the database has no information on whether they satisfy this property.