Let and . Then the number of many-one functions such that is equal to:
- A
- B
- C
- D
Let and . Then the number of many-one functions such that is equal to:
Correct answer:D
Standard Method
Given: and . We need the number of many-one functions such that .
Find: The number of non-injective functions satisfying the given image condition.
Total number of functions from to is
Functions for which must map every element of into . Their number is
So the number of functions with is
Now subtract the one-to-one functions among these. Since , every injective function is a bijection, and every bijection contains in its image. Hence the number of injective functions is
Therefore the number of many-one functions is
Therefore, the correct option is D. The number of such functions is .
Using complement and injective count
Given: where and .
Find: Count functions that are many-one and satisfy .
First count all possible functions:
Next, count functions that do not contain in the image. Then each element of has only choices:
Hence functions with appearing in the image are
A many-one function means the function is not one-to-one. So remove all injective functions from this count.
The injective functions from a -element set to another -element set are exactly all bijections:
Thus the required number is
the solution itself concludes that the required count is , even though the answer key lists a different option. Therefore, using the solution, the correct option is D.
Counting only functions with as and stopping there. This ignores the condition that the function must be many-one. After finding , subtract the injective functions.
Interpreting many-one incorrectly as allowing all functions. In this question, many-one means not one-to-one. So bijections or any injective mappings must be excluded.
Subtracting injective functions without checking whether they satisfy . Here every injective function from a -element set to a -element set is a bijection, so is automatically in the image.
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