  This is but one case of a very common situation: every free construction can be described as arising from an appropriate forgetful functor between two adequately chosen categories. The number of mathematical constructions that can be described as adjoints is simply stunning. Although the details of each one of these constructions vary considerably, the fact that they can all be described using the same language illustrates the profound unity of mathematical concepts and mathematical thinking. Before we give more examples, a formal and abstract definition of adjoint functors is in order.