Is zero a number? Was it always a number?
Today, zero has two roles: First, as a placeholder within our number system, representing an absence of a value. It allows us to create huge numbers without extra digits. Its second role is as a number in its own right, in between -1 and 1. We can subtract, add, multiply by 0… but dividing gets tricky. I mean, you can’t divide 1 chicken by 0 chickens:
(You might think the answer would be infinity chickens, but it’s not, as infinity is a concept, not a number)
Most ancient civilisations developed some sort of number system to keep track of things, and they are all thought to have had a general concept of zero.
And when the Indians began developing a number system (the one that evolved into what we use today), zero was first explicitly born, with 9 number symbols and a dot to represent the absence of a number.
In the 7th Century, Brahmagupta developed terms for zero in addition, subtraction and division… though he struggled a bit with that last one.
Over time, the mathematics of India matured and spread outwards. But it found resistance in Europe, in particular against the established Roman numeral system.
But by the 13th century academics like Fibonacci were championing zero, helping it gain a solid foothold across Europe:
Zero went on to form the cornerstone of calculus, which allowed anyone to break down dynamic systems into smaller and smaller units approaching zero, but never quite getting there, avoiding the tricky problem of dividing by zero.
More recently, the binary numerical system formed the basis of the computer system and zero’s importance shone once more.
So maybe it really is possible to get something from nothing. Watch the full animation on our YouTube channel here.
