In mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function ) is a function such that every element can be mapped from element so that . In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the image of one element of its domain. It is not required that be unique; the function may map one or more elements of to the same element of . The term surjective and the related terms injective and bijective were introduced by Nicolas Bourbaki, a group of mainly French 20th-century mathematicians who, under this pseudonym, wrote a series of books presenting an exposition of modern advanced mathematics, beginning in 1935. The French word sur means over or above, and relates to the fact that the image of the domain of a surjective function completely covers the function's codomain. Any function induces a surjection by restricting its codomain to the image of its domain. Every surjective function has a right inverse assuming the axiom of choice, and every function with a right inverse is necessarily a surjection. The composition of surjective functions is always surjective. Any function can be decomposed into a surjection and an injection. Definition A surjective function is a function whose image is equal to its codomain. Equivalently, a function with domain and codomain is surjective if for every in there exists at least one in with . Surjections are sometimes denoted by a two-headed rightwards arrow (), as in . Symbolically, If , then is said to be surjective if . Examples For any set X, the identity function idX on X is surjective. The function defined by f(n) = n mod 2 (that is, even integers are mapped to 0 and odd integers to 1) is surjective. The function defined by f(x) = 2x + 1 is surjective (and even bijective), because for every real number y, we have an x such that f(x) = y: such an appropriate x is (y − 1)/2. The function defined by f(x) = x3 − 3x is surjective, because the pre-image of any real number y is the solution set of the cubic polynomial equation x3 − 3x − y = 0, and every cubic polynomial with real coefficients has at least one real root. However, this function is not injective (and hence not bijective), since, for example, the pre-image of y = 2 is {x = −1, x =