English

Noun

preimage ‎(plural preimages)

1. (mathematics) The set containing exactly every member of the domain of a function such that the member is mapped by the function onto an element of a given subset of the codomain of the function. Formally, of a subset B of the codomain Y under a function ƒ, the subset of the domain X defined by

   

   For example, the preimage of {4, 9} under the squaring function is the set {−3,−2,+2,+3}.

Synonyms

• inverse image

Translations

Related terms

• image