coproduct

In category theory, the coproduct, or categorical sum, is a construction which includes as examples the disjoint union of sets and of topological spaces, the free product of groups, and the direct sum of modules and vector spaces. The coproduct of a family of objects is essentially the "least specific" object to which each object in the family admits a morphism. It is the category-theoretic dual notion to the categorical product, which means the definition is the same as the product but with all arrows reversed. Despite this seemingly innocuous change in the name and notation, coproducts can be and typically are dramatically different from products within a given category.

== Definition == Let C be a category and let X_1 and X_2 be objects of C. An object is called the coproduct of X_1 and X_2, written X_1 \sqcup X_2, or X_1 \oplus X_2, or sometimes simply X_1 + X_2, if there exist morphisms i_1 : X_1 \to X_1 \sqcup X_2 and i_2 : X_2 \to X_1 \sqcup X_2 that satisfies the following universal property: for any object Y and any morphisms f_1 : X_1 \to Y and f_2 : X_2 \to Y, there exists a unique morphism f : X_1 \sqcup X_2 \to Y such that f_1 = f \circ i_1 and f_2 = f \circ i_2. That is, the following diagram commutes: