John Venn: Google Doodle marks 180th birth date of inventor of Venn diagram
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Google's latest Doodle marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of English philosopher John Venn, inventor of the Venn diagram.
The diagram typically uses two or three circles that represent sets of things that are logically grouped; say 'transport' and 'has wings'. Where the circles overlap all types of winged transport can be found.
This idea is illustrated in a highly interactive Doodle that begins with the search engine's logo made up of coloured cirles. Clicking on this, you can then create your own Venn diagrams using groups such as 'sea life' or 'mammals' overlapped with 'birds' or 'has a shell'.
A cartoon of Venn himself then appears to show the user an example of things that would conform to each possible overlap.
Venn's work, which he referred to as 'Eulerian Circles', is used in set theory, probability, logic, statistics and computer science.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments