abstract nonsense en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Coined by Norman Steenrod, popularized by Serge Lang.
Meanings
- (humorous, uncountable) Details which are straightforward but so tedious that an author or lecturer would rather skip them (especially those of a category theoretical nature).
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(humorous, uncountable) Details which involve diagram chasing.
³Lang’s Algebra [Lan02, p. 759] supports the general consensus that this was not intended as an epithet: In the forties and fifties (mostly in the works of Cartan, Eilenberg, MacLane, and Steenrod, see [CE56]), it was realized that there was a systematic way of developing certain relations of linear algebra, depending only on fairly general constructions which were mostly arrow-theoretic, and were affectionately called abstract nonsense by Steenrod.
2016, Emily Riehl, Category Theory in Context (Aurora: Dover modern math originals), New York: Dover, →ISBN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2019, page x:
- (humorous, uncountable) Category theory in general.
- (uncountable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see abstract, nonsense.
Coordinates
handwave (skipped details)