The Euler characteristic of a category
Tom Leinster
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Abstract
The Euler characteristic of a finite category is defined and shown to be compatible with Euler characteristics of other types of object, including orbifolds. A formula is proved for the cardinality of a colimit of sets, generalizing the classical inclusion-exclusion formula. Both rest on a generalization of Rota's Möbius inversion from posets to categories.
Cite this article
Tom Leinster, The Euler characteristic of a category. Doc. Math. 13 (2008), pp. 21–49
DOI 10.4171/DM/240