This book, first published in 2006, details how limit processes can be represented algebraically.

This volume contains selected papers presented at the International Workshop on Categorical Topology, held at the University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy from August 31 to September 4, 1994. The collection should be of interest to mathematicians whose work involves category theory.

In this thesis a functorial approach to the category of derived manifolds is developed. We use a similar approach as Demazure and Gabriel did when they described the category of schemes as a full subcategory of the category of sheaves on the big Zariski site. Their work is further developed leading to the definition of C#-schemes and derived manifolds as certain sheaves on appropriate big sites. The new description of C#-schemes and derived manifolds via functors is compared to the previous approaches via locally ringed spaces given by D. Joyce and D. Spivak. Furthermore, it is proven that both approaches lead to equivalent categories.

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications TOWARDS HIGHER CATEGORIES contains expository and research papers based on a highly successful IMA Summer Program on n-Categories: Foundations and Applications. We are grateful to all the participants for making this occasion a very productive and stimulating one. We would like to thank John C. Baez (Department of Mathematics, University of California Riverside) and J. Peter May (Department of Ma- ematics, University of Chicago) for their superb role as summer program organizers and editors of this volume. We take this opportunity to thank the National Science Foundation for its support of the IMA. Series Editors Fadil Santosa, Director of the IMA Markus Keel, Deputy Director of the IMA v PREFACE DEDICATED TO MAX KELLY, JUNE 5 1930 TO JANUARY 26 2007. This is not a proceedings of the 2004 conference “n-Categories: Fo- dations and Applications” that we organized and ran at the IMA during the two weeks June 7–18, 2004! We thank all the participants for helping make that a vibrant and inspiring occasion. We also thank the IMA sta? for a magni?cent job. There has been a great deal of work in higher c- egory theory since then, but we still feel that it is not yet time to o?er a volume devoted to the main topic of the conference.

This elegant book is sure to become the standard introduction to synthetic differential geometry. It deals with some classical spaces in differential geometry, namely 'prolongation spaces' or neighborhoods of the diagonal. These spaces enable a natural description of some of the basic constructions in local differential geometry and, in fact, form an inviting gateway to differential geometry, and also to some differential-geometric notions that exist in algebraic geometry. The presentation conveys the real strength of this approach to differential geometry. Concepts are clarified, proofs are streamlined, and the focus on infinitesimal spaces motivates the discussion well. Some of the specific differential-geometric theories dealt with are connection theory (notably affine connections), geometric distributions, differential forms, jet bundles, differentiable groupoids, differential operators, Riemannian metrics, and harmonic maps. Ideal for graduate students and researchers wishing to familiarize themselves with the field.

This book reports on cutting-edge concepts related to Bourbaki’s notion of structures mères. It merges perspectives from logic, philosophy, linguistics and cognitive science, suggesting how they can be combined with Bourbaki’s mathematical structuralism in order to solve foundational, ontological and epistemological problems using a novel category-theoretic approach. By offering a comprehensive account of Bourbaki’s structuralism and answers to several important questions that have arisen in connection with it, the book provides readers with a unique source of information and inspiration for future research on this topic.

For 80 years, mathematics has driven fundamental innovation in computing and communications. This timely book provides a panorama of some recent ideas in mathematics and how they will drive continued innovation in computing, communications and AI in the coming years. It provides a unique insight into how the new techniques that are being developed can be used to provide theoretical foundations for technological progress, just as mathematics was used in earlier times by Turing, von Neumann, Shannon and others. Edited by leading researchers in the field, chapters cover the application of new mathematics in computer architecture, software verification, quantum computing, compressed sensing, networking, Bayesian inference, machine learning, reinforcement learning and many other areas.