Function theory: codomain and image, difference between them Can't figure out the difference between them. I have read wiki article about codomains and images, but what is the difference? It seems confusing the examples part in codomain article. How can we claim this:

$f: \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$,

where $f(x) = x^2$? This function will never assume negative number, so why the codomain is R? After all, the authors might have gone even further and claim that codomain is the set of complex numbers!
 A: You cannot read off the codomain from the formula $f(x)=x^2$.
Domain and codomain really are part of the data which comes with a function.
This means that you cannot just say

"Let $f$ be the function $x\mapsto x^2$."

Instead, you always have to specify domain and codomain first, as in

"Let $f$ be the function from $\mathbb R$ to $\mathbb R$ mapping $x$ to $x^2$."

Or, as you mentioned, it could be

"Let $f$ be the function from $\mathbb R$ to $\mathbb C$ mapping $x$ to $x^2$."

or

"Let $f$ be the function from $\mathbb C$ to $\mathbb C$ mapping $x$ to $x^2$."

This will really be different functions.
Of course, if you want to define a function $f\colon X\to Y$ you have to make sure that $f(x)$ actually is an element in $Y$. Therefore,

"Let $f$ be the function from $\mathbb C$ to $\mathbb R$ mapping $x$ to $x^2$."

does not define a function.
The image of a function $f\colon X\to Y$ is, by the way, the subset of $Y$ consisting of all element $y\in Y$ for which there exists an element $x\in X$ with $f(x)=y$.
