  Topological quantum computation employs two-dimensional quasiparticles called
anyons. The generally accepted mathematical basis for the theory of anyons is
the framework of modular tensor categories. That framework involves a
substantial amount of category theory and is, as a result, considered rather
difficult to understand. Is the complexity of the present framework necessary?
The computations of associativity and braiding matrices can be based on a much
simpler framework, which looks less like category theory and more like familiar
algebra. We introduce that framework here.
