Out of 90 civil servants, 65 were working in the office, 50 were working in the field and 35 were working in both the premises (sites).
- Let O and F represent the set of civil servants working in office and field respectively, then find $\rm n(F)$ and $\rm n(O \cap F)$.
- Represent the given information in a Venn diagram.
- How many civil servants were absent?
- How many civil servants were working in the field only?
Solution
Let O represent the set of civil servants working in the office. Similarly, let F represent the set of civil servants working in the field.
According to the question, 65 civil servants work in the office, i.e., $\rm n(O) = 65$, and 50 work in the field, i.e., $\rm n(F) = 50$.
Also, there were a total of 90 civil servants, $\rm n(U) = 90$. 35 of them worked in both office and field, $\rm n(O \cap F) = 35$. A few civil servants may be absent, $\rm n (\overline{O \cup F})$.
1) The required values of $\rm n(F)$ and $\rm n(O \cap F)$ are $\rm n(F) = 50$ and $\rm n(O \cap F) = 35$.
2) Representing the above information in a Venn diagram.

3) Let $\rm n (\overline{O \cup F})$ represent the set of civil servants who were absent. Using the formula
$\rm n(U) = n(O) + n(F) - n(O \cap F) + n (\overline{O \cup F})$
$\rm or, n (\overline{O \cup F}) = n(U) - n(O) - n(F) + n(O \cap F)$
$\rm or, n (\overline{O \cup F}) = 90 - 65 - 50 + 35$
$\rm \therefore n (\overline{O \cup F}) = 10$
Hence, 10 civil servants were absent.
4) We can obtain the number of civil servants working in fields only by using the formula $\rm n_o{F} = n(F) - n(O \cap F)$
$\rm \therefore n_o{F} = 50 - 35 = 15$