Venn Diagram

Venn Diagram

[Name of College]

Venn Diagram

Introduction

Venn diagrams are illustrations used in the branch of mathematics known as set theory. These diagrams are used to graphically display the mathematical or logical relationship between different groups of things (sets), representing each set by an oval or circle. The way in which these circles overlap each other shows all possible logical relationships between the sets they represent. For example, when the circles overlap, indicate the existence of subsets with common characteristics.

Origins and History

Venn diagrams are named after its creator, John Venn a British mathematician and philosopher. Student and later professor at Caius College, Cambridge University, spent his entire intellectual output between these four walls.

Venn introduced the system of representation we now know its name in July 1880 with the publication of his work entitled "On the diagrammatic and mechanical representation of propositions and reasoning" (On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and reasoning) in the Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, causing a stir in the world of formal logic. (Hamburger & Hepp, 2005)

Although the first form of geometric representation of logical syllogisms is commonly attributed to Gottfried Leibniz, and was later extended by George Boole and Augustus De Morgan, Venn method clearly and simply exceeded the previous representation systems to the point of becoming eventually a new standard. Venn was the first to formalize their use and to provide a generalized mechanism for them.

Later developed more than their new method in his book "Symbolic Logic", published in 1881 with the aim to interpret and correct the work of Boole in the field of formal logic. Although not too successful at it, his book became such an excellent platform for the new system of representation. Continued to use it in his next book on logic (The principles of empirical logic, published in 1889), which Venn diagrams were ...