(Homotopy theory) When does the 2 of 3 property not imply 2 of 6? - MathOverflow

(Homotopy theory) When does the 2 of 3 property not imply 2 of 6?

2013-02-05T16:14:52Z

A relative category is a category $C$ with a subcategory $W$ containing all the objects of $C$.

Given a relative category $(C,W)$, $W$ is said to satisfy the ``2 implies 6'' property if, for any collection of three composable maps,

$$X\rightarrow Y\rightarrow Z\rightarrow A$$

the presence of the composites $X\rightarrow Z$ and $Y\rightarrow A$ in $W$ implies that each individual map is in $W$ (and so also the triple composition).

The property I'm more familiar with from thinking about weak equivalences is the ``2 implies 3" property, which says that, given a pair of composable maps

$$X\rightarrow Y\rightarrow Z$$

the presence of any two of the maps

$$X\rightarrow Y$$ $$Y\rightarrow Z$$ $$X\rightarrow Z$$

in $W$ implies that the third is as well.

The "2 implies 6" property implies the "2 implies 3" property, and I've been told that "2 implies 6" is a strictly stronger property.

QUESTION: What is the basic example of a relative category $(C,W)$ where $W$ satisfies "2 implies 3", but not "2 implies 6"?

Edit: By "basic", I mean what is an example which comes up in applications, or better yet, what is the example to keep in mind?

Answer by Simon Rose for (Homotopy theory) When does the 2 of 3 property not imply 2 of 6?

2013-02-05T16:33:53Z

Edit: This answer only makes sense if the actual question was about morphism $X \to A$ and not $X \to Z$.

Couldn't you just pick a category with two objects $x, y$ with only one invertible morphism $f$ between the two of them? Then consider $$ x \to x \to y \to x $$ with the morphism $x \to x$ being the identity. If we let $W$ be the subcategory consisting of $x, y$ but not the morphism between them, then it satisfies your condition that $X \to Y$ and $Y \to A$ (both of which are just the identity $x \to x$), but not that $x \to y$ or $y \to x$ are in $W$.

In this case, $W$ satisfies the 2-implies-3, since if the diagrams $$ X \to Y \to Z $$ have 2 morphisms that are in $W$, then they must be of the form $x \to x \to x$ or $y \to y \to y$, and so it satisfies the 2-implies-3 condition.

Answer by Eric Wofsey for (Homotopy theory) When does the 2 of 3 property not imply 2 of 6?

2013-02-05T16:47:11Z

Here's a rather tautological example. Consider the category $$X\rightarrow Y\rightarrow Z\rightarrow A.$$ That is, $X$, $Y$, $Z$, and $A$ are the only objects, and the only morphisms are those appearing in the diagram (and their composites). Then let $W$ consist of the identity maps, the map $X\to Z$, and the map $Y\to A$. Then this satisfies 2 out of 3 but not 2 out of 6.

Answer by Tom Goodwillie for (Homotopy theory) When does the 2 of 3 property not imply 2 of 6?

2013-02-05T23:49:10Z

I'm not sure that any examples naturally come up, of cases where you have the 2 out of 3 condition but not the 2 out of 6. Of course, if membership in W is defined by requiring certain functors to take a morphism to isomorphisms (as is so often the case in applications), then you always have 2 out of 6 (because a morphism that has both a left inverse and a right inverse always has an inverse).

In Quillen's model category axioms 2 out of 3 is an axiom and 2 out of 6 follows from this and the other axioms.