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Every small colimit can be constructed as a coequalizer between coproducts over the arrows and objects of the index category
Statement
Let be small. If the coproducts
and the coequalizer of , where on the -summand and , exist, then that coequalizer is a colimit of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The displayed coproducts and coequalizer.
The product-equalizer construction yields every small limit when its constituent limits exist (Every small limit can be constructed as an equalizer between products over the objects and arrows of the index category).
Formal duality exchanges limits with colimits, products with coproducts, and equalizers with coequalizers (A limiting cone for a diagram is exactly a colimiting cocone for the formally dual diagram in the opposite category).
Coproducts give unique maps out of families of summands (Products and coproducts as limits and colimits of discrete diagrams, including their existence-and-uniqueness equations).
A coequalizer gives a unique factor for each arrow that equalizes its pair (Equalizers and coequalizers as limits and colimits of a parallel pair).
Proof
Apply [L1] to . By [L2], its object-indexed product becomes , its arrow-indexed product becomes , and the two coordinate maps become and with exactly the displayed summand equations.
The equalizer universal property in becomes the coequalizer property [F2] in . The limiting cone equations become , and existence and uniqueness of mediating arrows both reverse to the colimit clauses.
Thus the coequalizer is a colimit. When is empty, both coproducts are initial and the construction returns the initial-object colimit, exactly dual to the boundary case in [L1].
Depends on
Every small limit can be constructed as an equalizer between products over the objects and arrows of the index category
A limiting cone for a diagram is exactly a colimiting cocone for the formally dual diagram in the opposite category
Products and coproducts as limits and colimits of discrete diagrams, including their existence-and-uniqueness equations
Equalizers and coequalizers as limits and colimits of a parallel pair