Polynomial Functors (Paperback)

Nelson Niu

ISBN 10: 1009576712 / ISBN 13: 9781009576710

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. Everywhere one looks, one finds dynamic interacting systems: entities expressing and receiving signals between each other and acting and evolving accordingly over time. In this book, the authors give a new syntax for modeling such systems, describing a mathematical theory of interfaces and the way they connect. The discussion is guided by a rich mathematical structure called the category of polynomial functors. The authors synthesize current knowledge to provide a grounded introduction to the material, starting with set theory and building up to specific cases of category-theoretic concepts such as limits, adjunctions, monoidal products, closures, comonoids, comodules, and bicomodules. The text interleaves rigorous mathematical theory with concrete applications, providing detailed examples illustrated with graphical notation as well as exercises with solutions. Graduate students and scholars from a diverse array of backgrounds will appreciate this common language by which to study interactive systems categorically. An example- and exercise-filled book for mathematical and scientific modelers with an introductory knowledge of category theory (e.g., readers of Cheng's 'Joy of Abstraction' or Fong & Spivak's 'Invitation to Applied Category Theory') interested in learning to apply the category of polynomial functors to real-world interacting dynamical systems. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781009576710

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Polynomial Functors (Paperback)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009576712
• ISBN 13: 9781009576710
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Everywhere one looks, one finds dynamic interacting systems: entities expressing and receiving signals between each other and acting and evolving accordingly over time. In this book, the authors give a new syntax for modeling such systems, describing a mathematical theory of interfaces and the way they connect. The discussion is guided by a rich mathematical structure called the category of polynomial functors. The authors synthesize current knowledge to provide a grounded introduction to the material, starting with set theory and building up to specific cases of category-theoretic concepts such as limits, adjunctions, monoidal products, closures, comonoids, comodules, and bicomodules. The text interleaves rigorous mathematical theory with concrete applications, providing detailed examples illustrated with graphical notation as well as exercises with solutions. Graduate students and scholars from a diverse array of backgrounds will appreciate this common language by which to study interactive systems categorically.

About the Authors

Nelson Niu is a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Washington. He was a keynote speaker on Polynomial Functors at the 2022 Artificial General Intelligence Conference. He conducted research in applied category theory with David I. Spivak at MIT and currently consults with NASA on category theory applied to Advanced Air Mobility Architectures.

David I. Spivak is Senior Scientist and Institute Fellow at Topos Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from UC Berkeley in 2007. He went on to demonstrate the broad applicability of category theory during his postdoctoral work and ten years at MIT. He also co-founded the Topos Institute and has authored three books on category theory applications.