[Math] How many surjections are there from a set of 3 elements onto a set of 2 elements

combinatoricselementary-set-theory

I know we can use inclusion-exclusion principle or stirling numbers to solve this for a set of n elements onto a set of m elements. But I wanted to know how can we get the result using simple combinatorics as the number of elements here is too less.

Best Answer

You know probably the number off all functions from $\lbrace 1,2,3 \rbrace$ to $\lbrace 1,2\rbrace$ and a function which is NOT surjective must be constant since the range has only two elements.