Venn diagram

See also: Venn-diagram and venndiagram

English

Named after John Venn (1834–1923), British mathematician and philosopher.

Venn diagram (plural Venn diagrams)

(set theory) A diagram representing some sets by contours of closed shapes, such as circles or ellipses (and sometimes also the universal set as a rectangle enclosing all of these shapes), and indicating the relationships between the sets: by overlapping the shapes to show that the corresponding sets have a non-empty intersection, and by possibly (but not necessarily) enclosing all of the sets (which are proper subsets of the universal set) within a universal set (represented typically by a rectangle); such that the total number of simply connected regions is $2^{n}$ $2^{n}$ , where n is the number of depicted sets which are proper subsets of the universal set.
- 2022 May 23, Nick Vadala, “’Dogs back again”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, 193rd year, number 357, page B3:
  The overlapping section of the Venn diagram of Phillies fans and mystery meat aficionados probably already knows this, but the Phils’ beloved Dollar Dog Nights appeared to be over for the season (for the uninitiated, that’s when glizzies go on sale for a buck).

diagram representing sets by circles