Serendipitous Diversity with a Venn Diagram Rimshot

From Incidental Comics:


by Grant Snider

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A Barista's Five-Factor Venn Diagram

Among my many hangups are two fave obsessions: caffeine and Venn diagrams, and this sort of nails the common ground:

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A Countdown of Sorts

Venn Diagram: Living, Dead, Undead

Major geek factor: Venn Diagram and Zombies



from the excellent DogHouse Diaries.

Res ipsa loquitur

I am reluctant to discuss sports because I have no expertise in it. I am particularly loathe to discuss baseball because I once lived in a town that had a baseball team, and so my disappointment in Pittsburgh is great.

I am willing to discuss the socialogy of sports, and in that vein I convey Craig Robinson's Venn diagram of baseball team names:



When I review Craig Robinson's website the legacy of Edward Tufte is evident.

Christmas Venn Diagrams

This is from "The Santa Brand Guide", a tongue-in-cheek demo project by a British marketing shop — which explains the UK references: Alex Ferguson is coach for Man United; Tommy Cooper was a Welsh magician; The Laughing Policeman was a novel, an American film (Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern), and a UK children's series.

My Life in a Venn Diagram

I have written before about my appreciation of Venn Diagrams and all that they imply. This diagram from Indexed seems particularly trenchant:



So the Aeron space at the intersection of 40's and power chairs refers to Aeron chairs, once a symbol of dot-com cluelessness and arguably the most trendy power-chair for those who accumulate such things. The Rascal Scooter, on the other hand, at the intersection of 80's and power chairs, is an electric scooter for senior citizens.

And I - (I who have an Aeron in my office, and probably a recumbent trike if not an actual Rascal in my future) - I am somewhere on the spectrum, as indicated above, inexorably moving left-to-right, at what seems to be an increasing rate. To have one's life represented in such a manner!

Venn Diagrams : A Chart Geek's Favorites

I've heard of Multiple Personality Disorder. If there were such a thing, I'd have Multiple Geek Syndrome (MGS). In fact, I do have MGS, but I prefer to think of it as a feature rather than a bug.

I am many kinds of geek. Info Geek. Bike Geek. Airplane Geek. Map Geek. And: Chart Geek. I really love a good chart. Let's talk charts. One of the types of charts that I like, and that translate well to the general population (a euphemism for non-chart-geeks), are Venn Diagrams.

Charts are symbolic representations of the world. They can describe complex things without many words. Charts are awesome. Sometimes, part of the trick is understanding the implications of the chart design - what it implies, what it denies, etc.


One of my favorite charts types is Venn Diagrams. Venn diagrams are exhaustive in that they show all possible intersections of various sets. Because it is difficult to depict these intersections in two dimensions, Venn's own diagrams only described the relationships of up to four sets, which he used ellipses to depict. This report uses Venn's four-ellipse-set to describe the intersection of the insect and human genome.


Subsequent work has extended Venn diagrams into four, five, and six sets. This includes the work mathematician Charles Dodgson, otherwise known as the writer Lewis Carroll, who depicted a Venn diagram of six sets.



A.W.F. Edwards created symmetrical constructions of Venn diagrams with higher numbers of sets. He projected the Venn diagram onto a sphere, depicted the intersections on the surface of the sphere, and then projected the resulting sets back to the plane to give cogwheel diagrams with increasing numbers of teeth.

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Call to Action

I have not come across any photos of Venn diagram tattoos. If you've got one, please send it over. Thanks, Vannevar.

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A Mathematician's Memorial

A.W.F. Edwards also designed this stained glass window commemorating John Venn, which is placed in the Hall of Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University, England.


A Euler Diagram is a further development of Venn Diagrams, but Euler Diagrams are not required to be exhaustive; they do not need to show all possible intersections of sets, and they can show non-intersections as well.


Venn diagrams have moved beyond arcane set theory (as enjoyable and satisfying as that can be) into the sphere (sorry) of art. So let me say that understanding Venn diagrams is something to hope for, possibly even something to pray for:

Best Non-Mathematical Venn Diagram I've Ever Seen

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce the Venn diagram that I saw today, which prompted me to write this post. It's the best Venn Diagram I've ever seen. I really appreciate how he uses the nuance of the various intersections to draw out the suggested strategies.

Knowledge is Justified True Belief

This Venn diagram depicts Plato's epistomological assertion that "knowledge is justified true belief".

Make Your Own Venn Diagrams

If you'd like to make your own Venn Diagrams, try Venny, an online Venn-Maker.

Venn Small Amusements

(click for originals, links open in new window)