Brushstrokes and Tensor Products: Painting with a Monoidal Category
arXiv:2508.05482
Abstract
This article offers an intuitive introduction to monoidal categories through the lens of painting, presenting abstract mathematical concepts with visual and tactile analogies. Aimed at curious undergraduates and non-specialists, it seeks to demystify category theory by showing how ideas like the tensor product, associators, and braidings can be understood as compositional tools on a canvas.
Currently under peer review at The Mathematical Intelligencer