Pullback (category theory)
In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a pullback (also called a fiber product, fibre product, fibered product or Cartesian square) is the limit of a diagram consisting of two morphisms f : X → Z and g : Y → Z with a common codomain. The pullback is often written P = X ×Z Y and comes equipped with two natural morphisms P → X and P → Y. The pullback of two morphisms f and g need not exist, but if it does, it is essentially uniquely defined by the two morphisms. In many situations, X ×Z Y may intuitively be thought of as consisting of pairs of elements (x, y) with x in X, y in Y, and f(x) = g(y). For the general definition, a universal property is used, which essentially expresses the fact that the pullback is the "most general" way to complete the two given morphisms to a commutative square. The dual concept of the pullback is the pushout. (Wikipedia).
