I consider the function $f(x) = x^2 : \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ whose image is $[0, + \infty)$. For the sake of simplicity: domain $D = \mathbb{R}$, codomain $C = \mathbb{R}$.
If I consider $A = [-25, 25]$ subset of the codomain $C$, this subset contains elements $[-25, 0)$ which don't have a corresponding element in the domain $D$. In this case is it possible to evaluate the inverse image of $A$? I tried to do it in this way.
According to the definition of the inverse image:
$$
f^{-1}(A) = \lbrace x \in D : f(x) \in A \rbrace
$$
$$
f^{-1}(A) = f^{-1}([0, 25]) = \lbrace x \in [-5, 5] \rbrace
$$
Is it correct?
EDIT: the Mathematica software gave me the same result I wrote.
Best Answer
$A=[-25,25]$ is not a subset of the $f$'s range $[0,\infty),$ so $A$ does not have a preimage under $f.$
$f$'s range (let's call it $R$) is a subset of $f$'s codomain, and $R$'s preimage is $f$'s domain.