Young diagrams are graphical representations used in combinatorics and representation theory to visualize partitions of integers. They consist of rows of boxes, where each row corresponds to a part of the partition, and the number of boxes in each row represents the size of that part. The rows are aligned to the left, and the number of boxes in each row is non-increasing as you move downwards. These diagrams are named after the mathematician Alfred Young, who introduced them in the early 20th century. Young diagrams are useful for studying symmetric functions, Young tableaux, and the representation theory of symmetric groups, providing a clear way to organize and analyze combinatorial structures.