definition. equalizer [leinster2016basic, 5.1.11] [tt-000Q]

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An equalizer of a shape \(E(f, g)\) is a fork \((E, \iota )\) over it, such that, for any \((\mathrm {-}, d)\) over the fork, the diagram commutes (i.e. any arrow \(d : \mathrm {-} \to X\) must uniquely factor through \(E\)).

For simplicity, we refer to the equalizer of a shape \(E(f, g)\) as \(\operatorname {Eq}(f, g)\), and \(\iota \) is the canonical inclusion.

We say that a category \({\cal C}\) has equalizers iff every shape E in \({\cal C}\) has an equalizer.