First Course in Abstract Algebra A

The name two-to-two function suggests that such a function f should carry every pair of distinct points into two distinct points. Such a function is one-to-one in the conventional sense. (If the domain has only one element, the function cannot fail to be two-to-two, because the only way it can fail to be two-to-two is to carry two points into one point, and the set does not have two points.) Conversely, every function that is one-to-one in the conventional sense carries each pair of distinct points into two distinct points. Thus the functions conventionally called one-to-one are precisely those that carry two points into two points, which is a much more intuitive unidirectional way of regarding them. Also, the standard way of trying to show that a function is one-to-one is precisely to show that it does not fail to be two-to-two. That is, proving that a function is one-to-one becomes more natural in the two-to-two terminology