Colimit
In
mathematics, the
category theory concept of
colimit, also known as a
direct limit or
inductive limit, is
dual to the notion of a
limit (
inverse or
projective limit). It is a rather general formulation of the idea of 'gluing together' mathematical objects. A typical example would be the free product with amalgamation of
groups.
The general definition of a colimit is given on the limit page. Special cases of colimits, each dual to a special case of limits, include coproduct, coequaliser, pushout.