Remark. Scalar factorization, localization and gluing [fdip-004Q]

The retained-variance example tests scalar factorization: for specified functions \(c:X\to Y\) and \(r:X\to \mathbb R\), it asks whether \(r=F\circ c\) for a function on \(c(X)\). The fiber criterion answers exactly this question, without supplying continuity or any categorical structure.

Functorial factorization instead starts with categories and functors \(U:\mathcal B\to \mathcal D\) and \(O:\mathcal B\to \mathcal A\), and asks for \(\overline O:\mathcal D\to \mathcal A\) and a natural isomorphism \(O\cong \overline O\circ U\). A localization at a declared class \(W\) of arrows has an additional universal property: it inverts those arrows and is universal among functors that do so [stacks2017stacks, Section 4.27], Tag 04VB. A generic forgetful functor is not thereby a localization. Mathlib's CategoryTheory.Localization.lift requires both a localization functor and a functor that inverts \(W\); these hypotheses are absent from the scalar example.

Local-to-global descent requires a site with covers, restriction maps and compatible data on overlaps, together with an effective gluing statement. For category-valued data, a stack also requires a fibred category and sheaves of morphisms [stacks2017stacks, Definition 8.4.1], Tag 0268. The enriched background groupoid and the scalar variance calculation supply none of this cover-and-gluing structure. The groupoid is a category of finite backgrounds, not necessarily a finite category. No local-to-global descent theorem follows.