To have a category, the elements and morphisms have to satisfy some constraints:
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- (i) the class of morphisms has to be closed under composition: where `f:C1->C2` and `g:C2->C3`, `g o f` is also a morphism of the category, which maps `C1->C3`.
+ (i) the class of morphisms has to be closed under composition: where f:C1->C2 and g:C2->C3, g o f is also a morphism of the category, which maps C1->C3.
(ii) composition of morphisms has to be associative
- (iii) every element `E` of the category has to have an identity morphism 1<sub>E</sub>, which is such that for every morphism `f:C1->C2`: 1<sub>C2</sub> o f = f = f o 1<sub>C1</sub>
+ (iii) every element E of the category has to have an identity morphism 1<sub>E</sub>, which is such that for every morphism f:C1->C2: 1<sub>C2</sub> o f = f = f o 1<sub>C1</sub>
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These parallel the constraints for monoids. Note that there can be multiple distinct morphisms between an element `E` and itself; they need not all be identity morphisms. Indeed from (iii) it follows that each element can have only a single identity morphism.