On the subdivision of small categories (Q929976)

The author provides an intrinsic definition for the subdivision, \(Sd({\mathcal C})\), of a small category \({\mathcal C}\) which is equivalent to the subdivision defined by \textit{D. W. Anderson} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 84, 765--788 (1978; Zbl 0408.55002)]. He derives several basic properties of this subdivision, including the fact that for every small category \({\mathcal C}\), \(Sd^2({\mathcal C})\) is a poset, and the fact that there is a natural transformation \(\epsilon: Sd\rightarrow \text{id}_{{\mathcal C}at}\) of functors of \({\mathcal C}at\) (the category of small categories) that induces a homotopy equivalence between the classifying space of a small category and that of its subdivision. He uses these to provide a new proof that the homotopy category of \({\mathcal C}at\) and that of the category of topological spaces are equivalent.