Michael wrote:

> John wrote:

> >$(X \times Y) \times Z = X \times (Y \times Z)$
> > but in fact this equation isn't true! Do you see why not? If you don't see why, maybe someone else can explain why.

> Yes, they are not equal because the tuple is structured differently i.e. wearing different clothes. More specifically, if they are equal then \$$(X \times Y) = X \text{ and } Z = (Y \times Z)\$$ which not true generally (this can be true for monoidal products when \$$Y=I\$$).

Hmm. I would have said this. The cartesian product of sets is usually defined to be a set of ordered pairs:

$X \times Y = \lbrace (x,y) : x \in X, y \in Y \rbrace .$

Given this definition, we can work out \$$(X \times Y) \times Z \$$ and \$$X \times (Y \times Z) \$$ and see that they are different sets. (Can you or someone else do it?)

However, we can also see an obvious one-to-one correspondence between these sets! We can write down a formula for this bijection and call it the associator

$\alpha_{X,Y,Z} \colon (X \times Y) \times Z \to X \times (Y \times Z).$

(Can you or someone else do it?)

Of course, there will usually be other bijections. For example, suppose \$$X,Y\$$ and \$$Z\$$ each have 10 elements. Then \$$(X \times Y) \times Z \$$ and \$$X \times (Y \times Z) \$$ will each have 1000 elements, so there will be many bijections between them. To be precise, there will be

402,387,260,077,093,773,543,702,433,923,003,985,719,374,864, 210,714,632,543,799,910,429,938,512,398,629,020,592,044,208, 486,969,404,800,479,988,610,197,196,058,631,666,872,994,808, 558,901,323,829,669,944,590,997,424,504,087,073,759,918,823, 627,727,188,732,519,779,505,950,995,276,120,874,975,462,497, 043,601,418,278,094,646,496,291,056,393,887,437,886,487,337, 119,181,045,825,783,647,849,977,012,476,632,889,835,955,735, 432,513,185,323,958,463,075,557,409,114,262,417,474,349,347, 553,428,646,576,611,667,797,396,668,820,291,207,379,143,853, 719,588,249,808,126,867,838,374,559,731,746,136,085,379,534, 524,221,586,593,201,928,090,878,297,308,431,392,844,403,281, 231,558,611,036,976,801,357,304,216,168,747,609,675,871,348, 312,025,478,589,320,767,169,132,448,426,236,131,412,508,780, 208,000,261,683,151,027,341,827,977,704,784,635,868,170,164, 365,024,153,691,398,281,264,810,213,092,761,244,896,359,928, 705,114,964,975,419,909,342,221,566,832,572,080,821,333,186, 116,811,553,615,836,546,984,046,708,975,602,900,950,537,616, 475,847,728,421,889,679,646,244,945,160,765,353,408,198,901, 385,442,487,984,959,953,319,101,723,355,556,602,139,450,399, 736,280,750,137,837,615,307,127,761,926,849,034,352,625,200, 015,888,535,147,331,611,702,103,968,175,921,510,907,788,019, 393,178,114,194,545,257,223,865,541,461,062,892,187,960,223, 838,971,476,088,506,276,862,967,146,674,697,562,911,234,082, 439,208,160,153,780,889,893,964,518,263,243,671,616,762,179, 168,909,779,911,903,754,031,274,622,289,988,005,195,444,414, 282,012,187,361,745,992,642,956,581,746,628,302,955,570,299, 024,324,153,181,617,210,465,832,036,786,906,117,260,158,783, 520,751,516,284,225,540,265,170,483,304,226,143,974,286,933, 061,690,897,968,482,590,125,458,327,168,226,458,066,526,769, 958,652,682,272,807,075,781,391,858,178,889,652,208,164,348, 344,825,993,266,043,367,660,176,999,612,831,860,788,386,150, 279,465,955,131,156,552,036,093,988,180,612,138,558,600,301, 435,694,527,224,206,344,631,797,460,594,682,573,103,790,084, 024,432,438,465,657,245,014,402,821,885,252,470,935,190,620, 929,023,136,493,273,497,565,513,958,720,559,654,228,749,774, 011,413,346,962,715,422,845,862,377,387,538,230,483,865,688, 976,461,927,383,814,900,140,767,310,446,640,259,899,490,222, 221,765,904,339,901,886,018,566,526,485,061,799,702,356,193, 897,017,860,040,811,889,729,918,311,021,171,229,845,901,641, 921,068,884,387,121,855,646,124,960,798,722,908,519,296,819, 372,388,642,614,839,657,382,291,123,125,024,186,649,353,143, 970,137,428,531,926,649,875,337,218,940,694,281,434,118,520, 158,014,123,344,828,015,051,399,694,290,153,483,077,644,569, 099,073,152,433,278,288,269,864,602,789,864,321,139,083,506, 217,095,002,597,389,863,554,277,196,742,822,248,757,586,765, 752,344,220,207,573,630,569,498,825,087,968,928,162,753,848, 863,396,909,959,826,280,956,121,450,994,871,701,244,516,461, 260,379,029,309,120,889,086,942,028,510,640,182,154,399,457, 156,805,941,872,748,998,094,254,742,173,582,401,063,677,404, 595,741,785,160,829,230,135,358,081,840,096,996,372,524,230, 560,855,903,700,624,271,243,416,909,004,153,690,105,933,983, 835,777,939,410,970,027,753,472,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

bijections between them. But there will be one "best" bijection.