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.
celebrabe the new year by watching the Goku Ball™ drop in times Square of New Goku City. when it drops, gogu will take you into a brand new year as you leave this shitty one behind………………