$\let\opn=\operatorname$For my BA thesis I have to describe formal groups from the functorial point of view. I am hence reading Strickland - Formal Schemes and Formal Groups, which is apparently the only article that deals with this topic in that way.
He defines (4.1) an formal scheme as a functor $X: \opn{CRings}\to \opn{Set}$ that is a small filtered colimit of affine schemes i.e., $X(R)=\lim\limits_{\rightarrow i}X_i(R)$.
The first example (4.2) is given by the functor $\widehat{\mathbb {A}}^{1} $ defined as $\widehat{\mathbb {A}}^{1}(R)\mathrel{:=}\opn{Nil}(R)$.
I don't understand why this functor is the colimit over $N$ of the functors $\opn{spec}(\mathbb{Z}[x]/x^{N+1})\mathrel{:=}\opn{Hom}_{\opn{CRing}}(\mathbb{Z}[x]/x^{N+1},\_)$.
I would appreciate it if someone could explain it in general and kindly give an illustrating example. Other simple examples of formal schemes are also highly welcome. Many thanks!