#Venn diagrams how to

Rather than placing the objects physically into the Venn diagram it is often more useful to simply represent the number of items in each region with a number. The fourth person has neither a tie or black hair, but every object needs to be placed somewhere inside the universal Set on a Venn diagram so this person is placed inside the universal set, but outside of the indicated sets. The third person has black hair but no tie so is placed in the ‘black hair’ region of the Venn diagram, outside the region that overlaps with having a tie. The second person has a tie, but does not have black hair, so we place them in the set for ‘having a tie’, making certain that they are not in the part of set that overlaps with having black hair. This section of the Venn diagram is called the intersection of the two sets. The first person has both black hair and a tie so we place them in the Venn diagram where the two sets overlap. We can take each element in turn and add them to the Venn diagram by placing them in the correct position.

This rectangle is referred to as the Universal Set and it contains the two further sets, each representing the characteristics with which we wish to sort our people. The Venn diagram consists of a rectangle that acts as a boundary into which all the elements must be placed. In this case the people we are sorting are the elements. In maths we call groups of this nature sets and the items within them, elements. Those with black hair and those wearing a tie. Suppose we want to sort these people into two groups: This unit of work is just one of several approaches that you could take when teaching this topic, and you should aim to adapt the resources to match ability level of your learners, as well as your school context. Learners following the extended curriculum will have an opportunity to develop their understanding of Venn diagram notation further, through the use of an additional/alternative lesson that explores subsets and the empty set in more detail. This module tackles both these issues, providing a range of resources which help to develop an understanding of the notation, and to present problems that help to tackle the issues surrounding the use of the notation and its links to everyday English. Learners often struggle to interpret the logic of Venn diagrams and with associating notation with everyday words, for example, the use of the Union symbol to represent the word ‘or’, whilst extended learners may struggle to appreciate that what is not included in a set is as important as what is included.

#Venn diagrams how to

A Venn diagram is very useful for organising data because a Venn diagram is made of overlapping circles which allow you to categorise each set of data so that similarities can be categorised together.In this unit of work we are going to look at how to draw and use Venn diagrams to represent information and to solve problems.įor the teacher, the large number of possible diagrammatic representations involved in preparing to teach this topic can make Venn diagrams lessons a challenging topic, and this unit provides visual resources to support teaching the delivery of these concepts. Then the similarities and differences can be identified. A Venn diagram is a diagram that represents mathematical or logical sets pictorially as circles or closed curves within an enclosing rectangle which is the universal set, common elements of the sets being represented by the areas of overlap among the circles.Ī Venn diagram enables data to be recorded and organised so that relationships between two or three sets of items can be seen.