Zig-zag lemmaIn mathematics, particularly homological algebra, the zig-zag lemma asserts the existence of a particular long exact sequence in the homology groups of certain chain complexes. The result is valid in every . In an abelian category (such as the category of abelian groups or the category of vector spaces over a given field), let and be chain complexes that fit into the following short exact sequence: Such a sequence is shorthand for the following commutative diagram: where the rows are exact sequences and each column is a chain complex.
Nine lemmaIn mathematics, the nine lemma (or 3×3 lemma) is a statement about commutative diagrams and exact sequences valid in the category of groups and any . It states: if the diagram to the right is a commutative diagram and all columns as well as the two bottom rows are exact, then the top row is exact as well. Likewise, if all columns as well as the two top rows are exact, then the bottom row is exact as well. Similarly, because the diagram is symmetric about its diagonal, rows and columns may be interchanged in the above as well.
Mitchell's embedding theoremMitchell's embedding theorem, also known as the Freyd–Mitchell theorem or the full embedding theorem, is a result about ; it essentially states that these categories, while rather abstractly defined, are in fact of modules. This allows one to use element-wise diagram chasing proofs in these categories. The theorem is named after Barry Mitchell and Peter Freyd. The precise statement is as follows: if A is a small abelian category, then there exists a ring R (with 1, not necessarily commutative) and a full, faithful and exact functor F: A → R-Mod (where the latter denotes the category of all left R-modules).
