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Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics pp 105–119Cite as

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Origins of the Venn Diagram

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Part of the Proceedings of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics/La Société Canadienne d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Mathématiques book series (PCSHPM)

Abstract

Venn diagrams have turned out to be visual tools that are enormously popular, but diagrams to help visualize relationships between classes or concepts in logic had existed prior to those of John Venn. The use of diagrams to demonstrate valid logical arguments has been found in the works of a few early Aristotelian scholars and appeared in the works of the famed mathematicians Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Leonhard Euler. In a 1686 fragment (which remained unpublished for over 200 years), the universal genius Leibniz illustrated all of Aristotle’s valid syllogisms through circle drawings. In 1761, the much-admired master mathematician Euler used almost identical diagrams to explain the same logical syllogisms. One hundred and twenty years later, John Venn ingeniously altered what he called “Euler circles” to become the familiar diagrams attached to Venn’s name. This paper explores the history of the Venn diagram and its predecessors.

Keywords

  • Venn Diagram
  • Line Diagram
  • Diagrammatic Method
  • Puzzle Piece
  • Eulerian Diagram

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ, USA

    Deborah Bennett

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  1. Deborah Bennett
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Correspondence to Deborah Bennett .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematical, Information and Computer Sciences, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California, USA

    Maria Zack

  2. Department of Philosophy, University of California, Davis, DAVIS, California, USA

    Elaine Landry

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Bennett, D. (2015). Origins of the Venn Diagram. In: Zack, M., Landry, E. (eds) Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Proceedings of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics/La Société Canadienne d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Mathématiques. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22258-5_8

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