In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a natural transformation provides a way of transforming one functor into another while respecting the internal structure (i.e. the composition of morphisms) of the categories involved. Hence, a natural transformation can be considered to be a "morphism of functors". Indeed this intuition can be formalized to define so-called functor categories. Natural transformations are, after categories and functors, one of the most basic notions of category theory and consequently appear in the majority of its applications.
Read more about Natural Transformation: Definition, Unnatural Isomorphism, Operations With Natural Transformations, Functor Categories, Yoneda Lemma, Historical Notes, Symbols Used
Famous quotes containing the word natural:
“Knowledge has two extremes. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find themselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great minds, who, having run through all that men can know, find they know nothing, and come back again to that same natural ignorance from which they set out; this is a learned ignorance which is conscious of itself.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)