The n-Category Café

Applied category theory offers a rigorous mathematical language and toolset for relating different concepts from across math, science, and technology. For example, category theory finds common patterns between geometry (shapes), algebra (equations), numbers, logic, probability, etc. Applied category theory (ACT) looks for how those very same patterns extend outward to data, programs, processes, physics, linguistics, and so on—things we see in the real world. The field is currently growing, as new applications and common patterns are being found all the time. When you understand these ideas, more of your intuitions about the world can be made rigorous and thus be communicated at a larger scale. This in turn gives our community a chance to solve larger and more complex scientific, technological, and maybe even societal problems.

This year’s international applied category theory conference ACT2020 is having a tutorial day, meant to introduce newcomers to applied category theory. Tutorial day will take place on July 5 and will include a few main topics that will be taught semi-traditionally (via presentation, exercises, and discussion) over Zoom, as well as mentors who will be available throughout the day to work with smaller groups and/or individuals. We invite you to sign up here if you’re interested, so we can keep you posted. Hope to see you there!

The four courses will be roughly as follows:

• David Spivak: categorical databases for introducing sets, functions, categories, and functors.

• Fabrizio Genovese: string diagrams as a graphical language for category theory.

• Emily Riehl: the Yoneda lemma in the category of matrices.

• Paolo Perrone: monads and comonads.