Functors preserve isomorphisms
Statement
If is a functor and is an isomorphism in with inverse , then is an isomorphism in , with inverse .
Why is it true?
This is what makes functors trustworthy translators: a functor can never accidentally break an equivalence into two genuinely different objects, so classifying objects "up to isomorphism" is a question functors respect.
Proof sketch
Since and are mutually inverse, and .
Apply to the first equation. Functors preserve composition, so ; functors preserve identities, so . Combining these with gives .
Apply to the second equation in the same way: and , so from we get .
The two displayed equations say exactly that is a two-sided inverse of . A morphism with a two-sided inverse is an isomorphism, so is an isomorphism with inverse , as claimed.
Topics that use this theorem
Step-by-step proofs
No step-by-step proof yet for this theorem.
References
- Saunders Mac Lane (1998). Categories for the Working Mathematician
- Emily Riehl (2016). Category Theory in Context
- David I. Spivak (2012). Functorial Data Migration · arXiv:1009.1166