Skip to main content

Equational reasoning with 2-dimensional diagrams

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Term Rewriting (TCS School 1993)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 909))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The significance of the 2-dimensional calculus, which goes back to Penrose, has already been pointed out by Joyal and Street. Independently, Burroni has introduced a general notion of n-dimensional presentation and he has shown that the equational logic of terms is a special case of 2-dimensional calculus.

Here, we propose a combinatorial definition of 2-dimensional diagrams and a simple method for proving that certain monoidal categories are finitely 2-presentable. In particular, we consider Burroni's presentation of finite maps and we extend it to the case of finite relations.

This paper should serve as a reference for our future work on symbolic computation, including a theory of 2-dimensional rewriting and the design of software for interactive diagrammatic reasoning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. A. Burroni, Higher Dimensional Word Problem, Theoretical Computer Science 115, 1993, pp. 43–62.

    Google Scholar 

  2. S. Eilenberg & J. B. Wright, Automata in general algebras, Information and Control 115, 1967, pp. 452–470.

    Google Scholar 

  3. P.J. Freyd & D.N. Yetter, Braided Compact Closed Categories with Application to Low Dimensional Topology, Advances in Mathematics 77, 1989, pp. 156–182.

    Google Scholar 

  4. A. Joyal & R. Street, The Geometry of Tensor Calculus, Advances in Mathematics 88, 1991, pp. 55–112.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Y. Lafont, Penrose diagrams and 2-dimensional rewriting, Applications of Categories in Computer Science (ed. M.P. Fourman, P.T. Johnstone & A.M. Pitts), LMSLNS 177, Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 191–201.

    Google Scholar 

  6. F.L. Lawvere, Functorial Semantics of Algebraic Theories, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  7. S. Mac Lane, Categories for the Working Mathematician, GTM 5, Springer-Verlag, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  8. R. Penrose & W. Rindler, Spinors and space-time, Vol. 1: Two-spinor calculus and relativistic fields, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  9. A. Poigné, Algebra Categorically, Category Theory and Computer Programming (ed. D. Pitt, S. Abramsky, A. Poigné & D. Rydeheard), LNCS 240, Springer-Verlag, 1985, pp. 76–102.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Hubert Comon Jean-Pierre Jounnaud

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Lafont, Y. (1995). Equational reasoning with 2-dimensional diagrams. In: Comon, H., Jounnaud, JP. (eds) Term Rewriting. TCS School 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 909. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-59340-3_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-59340-3_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-59340-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49237-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics