Universal set - GCSE Maths Definition

In GCSE Mathematics, the universal set is the population of all items, members, etc that we are concerned with in a given situation. In Venn diagrams, the universal set is indicated by the outer rectangle.

A universal set can then be split into subsets, with each subset having its own criteria. For example, in the universal set of students at a college, we may decide to break them down into three subsets - (i) those studying French, (ii) those studying Spanish, (iii) those studying German. Of course, there may be some students studying none of those options; these students would not appear in any of those subsets, but would still be part of the universal set.

Understanding the universal set, allows us to label each individual section of a Venn diagram, which in turn allows us to solve a range of probability problems.