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TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passaudited 2026-08-26
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Kan extensions as coends and ends

Statement

Let K:CD and F:CE be functors, with C small and D locally small (Small, locally small, and large categories).

Suppose functorial choices of the required copowers and powers are supplied, with their universal bijections natural in both index variables, and suppose the resulting coends and ends in E exist. Then for each object d of D:

  1. the pointwise left Kan extension value of F along K at d is LanKF(d)    cD(Kc,d)F(c),
  2. the pointwise right Kan extension value of F along K at d is RanKF(d)    cF(c)D(d,Kc).

So pointwise Kan extensions are the coend and end formulas suggested by the hom-weights.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: Functors K:CD and F:CE with C small and D locally small, functorial choices of the required powers and copowers, and the resulting ends and coends in E.

[F1]

A weighted colimit WF represents natural transformations WE(F,m), while a weighted limit {W,F} represents natural transformations WE(m,F) (Set-weighted limits and colimits).

[L1]

Given functorial choices of powers or copowers whose universal bijections are natural in both index variables, a weighted limit is the corresponding end of powers and a weighted colimit is the corresponding coend of copowers (A weighted limit is an end of powers and a weighted colimit a coend of copowers, The power and the copower of an object by a set).

[F2]

For fixed d, the assignment cD(Kc,d) is a presheaf on C, while cD(d,Kc) is a covariant functor on C; both are obtained by composing K with the corresponding hom-functor of D (The covariant and contravariant hom-assignments and the hom-bifunctor of a locally small category).

[L2]

The comma-category formulas compute the pointwise left and right Kan extension values (Comma-category limit and colimit formulae compute Kan extensions, Pointwise Kan extensions by the comma-category formula).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

Fix dD. By [L1], the coend cD(Kc,d)F(c) is the weighted colimit of F by the presheaf cD(Kc,d). By [F1], for every mE morphisms from this object to m are in natural bijection with natural transformations D(K,d)E(F,m). Unwinding the two functors, such a natural transformation is exactly a family of maps F(c)m indexed by arrows u:Kcd, natural in morphisms of (Kd); that is precisely a cocone under the comma-category diagram at d. Therefore the coend has the same objectwise universal property as the pointwise left Kan extension value at d, so [L2] identifies them.

F1F2L1L2
1.2

Again fix d. By [L1], the end cF(c)D(d,Kc) is the weighted limit of F by the copresheaf cD(d,Kc). By [F1], for every mE morphisms from m to this object are in natural bijection with natural transformations D(d,K)E(m,F). Unwinding these data gives exactly a cone over the diagram on (dK) with vertex m. So this end has the same objectwise universal property as the pointwise right Kan extension value at d, and [L2] identifies them.

F1F2L1L2
2.1

Since the argument is objectwise in d, the displayed coend and end formulas compute the values of the pointwise Kan extensions at every object of D.

step 1.1step 1.2

Depends on

Used by

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Dependency tree · two levels

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