In mathematics, especially in algebraic topology, the homotopy limit and colimitpg 52 are variants of the notions of limit and colimit extended to the homotopy category Ho ( Top ) {\displaystyle {\text{Ho}}({\textbf {Top}})} . The main idea is this: if we have a diagram
F : I → Top {\displaystyle F:I\to {\textbf {Top}}}
considered as an object in the homotopy category of diagrams F ∈ Ho ( Top I ) {\displaystyle F\in {\text{Ho}}({\textbf {Top}}^{I})} , (where the homotopy equivalence of diagrams is considered pointwise), then the homotopy limit and colimits then correspond to the cone and cocone
Holim ← I ( F ) : ∗ → Top Hocolim → I ( F ) : ∗ → Top {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\underset {\leftarrow I}{\text{Holim}}}(F)&:*\to {\textbf {Top}}\\{\underset {\rightarrow I}{\text{Hocolim}}}(F)&:*\to {\textbf {Top}}\end{aligned}}}
which are objects in the homotopy category Ho ( Top ∗ ) {\displaystyle {\text{Ho}}({\textbf {Top}}^{*})} , where ∗ {\displaystyle *} is the category with one object and one morphism. Note this category is equivalent to the standard homotopy category Ho ( Top ) {\displaystyle {\text{Ho}}({\textbf {Top}})} since the latter homotopy functor category has functors which picks out an object in Top {\displaystyle {\text{Top}}} and a natural transformation corresponds to a continuous function of topological spaces. Note this construction can be generalized to model categories, which give techniques for constructing homotopy limits and colimits in terms of other homotopy categories, such as derived categories. Another perspective formalizing these kinds of constructions are derivatorspg 193 which are a new framework for homotopical algebra.