section_path: Other terms
section_name: Other terms
paragraph_text: Other terms
  
  A function may also be called a map or a mapping, but some authors make a distinction between the term "map" and "function". For example, the term "map" is often reserved for a "function" with some sort of special structure (e.g. maps of manifolds). In particular map may be used in place of homomorphism for the sake of succinctness (e.g., linear map or map from G to H instead of group homomorphism from G to H). Some authors reserve the word mapping for the case where the structure of the codomain belongs explicitly to the definition of the function.
  
  Some authors, such as Serge Lang, use "function" only to refer to maps for which the codomain is a subset of the real or complex numbers, and use the term mapping for more general functions.
  
  In the theory of dynamical systems, a map denotes an evolution function used to create discrete dynamical systems. See also Poincaré map.
  
  Whichever definition of map is used, related terms like domain, codomain, injective, continuous have the same meaning as for a function.