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TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-08-30 rests on unproved material (inherited)
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

Rests on 3 statements not proved in this library, by way of the results it cites. This item cites no such statement directly; it depends on results that do. The unproved premises it inherits are Cohen's first model: an infinite Dedekind-finite set of reals, Sierpiński 1947: the generalised continuum hypothesis implies the Axiom of Choice and The continuum hypothesis and its generalisation are independent of ZFC. Each is recorded with a citation to the literature and is not established here, because the track that would prove it has not yet been developed in this library. Everything else in this proof is proved here.

The connecting morphism exists and is unique

Statement

Let

0ABC00A0B0C00ifpghi0p0

be snake data in the Mac Lane shape. Let kh:KC be a kernel of h and qf:AQ a cokernel of f.

Form the pullback P=B×CK with projections π:PB,π:PK, and the pushout R=Q⨿AB of qf and i with coprojections ι:QR,ι:BR.

Then there exists a unique morphism δ:KQ such that ιδπ=ιgπ.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: The snake-data diagram in the statement, together with kh and qf.

[L1]

In a short exact sequence, the left map is a kernel and the right map is a cokernel (A short exact sequence is a kernel-cokernel pair).

[L2]

Pullbacks and pushouts exist, pullbacks of epimorphisms are epimorphisms, and the induced map on kernels in a pullback square is an isomorphism (Pullbacks and pushouts as limits and colimits of cospans and spans, The pullback of an epimorphism is an epimorphism, In a pullback square, the induced map on the kernels of the two parallel arrows is an isomorphism).

[L3]

A pushout of a monomorphism is again a monomorphism (The pushout of a monomorphism is a monomorphism).

[L4]

A complex 0XuYvZ0 is short exact exactly when u is a kernel of v and v is epic (Degenerate exactness criteria).

[L5]

Kernels and cokernels are characterized by their universal properties (Kernels and cokernels in a category with zero morphisms as equalizers and coequalizers).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

Because the top row is short exact, [L1] says that p is epic and i=ker(p). Form the pullback of p along kh:

tikzcd P \arrow[r, "\pi'"] \arrow[d, "\pi"'] & B \arrow[d, "p"] \\ K \arrow[r, "k_h"'] & C.

By [L2], the map π is epic. The induced map on kernels identifies ker(π) with ker(p), so after transporting along i=ker(p) we obtain a kernel j:AP of π satisfying πj=i. [L1, L2, construct]

1.2

Form the pushout of qf and i:

tikzcd A' \arrow[r, "i'"] \arrow[d, "q_f"'] & B' \arrow[d, "\iota'"] \\ Q \arrow[r, "\iota"'] & R.

Since i is monic by [L1], [L3] makes ι monic. [L1, L3, construct]

2.1

Step 1.1 gives j=ker(π) and makes π epic. By [L4], the sequence 0AjPπK0 is therefore short exact. Applying [L1] to this new short exact sequence shows that π is also a cokernel of j.

L1L4step 1.1
2.2

The pullback relation gives hpπ=hkhπ=0, so the snake-data square yields pgπ=0. Because i=ker(p) by [L1], [L5] gives a unique map a:PA with ia=gπ.

L1L5step 1.1construct
3.1

Since πj=i and the left square commutes, we have iaj=gπj=gi=if. The map i is monic, so aj=f. Therefore qfaj=qff=0. Because π is a cokernel of j by step 2.1, [L5] yields a unique morphism δ:KQ with δπ=qfa.

L1L5step 2.1step 2.2algebra
4.1

Composing with the pushout coprojection gives ιδπ=ιqfa=ιia=ιgπ, which is the required relation. If δ1 and δ2 both satisfy that relation, then ιδ1π=ιδ2π. Since π is epic by step 1.1 and ι is monic by step 1.2, this forces δ1=δ2.

step 1.1step 1.2step 3.1algebra
5.1

Hence the connecting morphism exists and is unique.

step 3.1step 4.1

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

23 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources