# Metadata Source URL:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_theory Topics:: #mathematic --- # Category theory - Wikipedia ## Highlights > [!quote]+ Updated on 071122_135144 > > Category theory is a general theory of mathematical structures and their relations that was introduced by Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders Mac Lane in the middle of the 20th century in their foundational work on algebraic topology. Nowadays, category theory is used in almost all areas of mathematics, and in some areas of computer science. In particular, many constructions of new mathematical objects from previous ones, that appear similarly in several contexts are conveniently expressed and unified in terms of categories. Examples include quotient spaces, direct products, completion, and duality.