History Of Zero

Henil Shah

Computer Engineering
456
Communication Skill Presentation
 Focus Of Presentation

∗ The History of Zero

∗ Before Zero
∗ Birth of Zero
 First Things First

∗ Two uses for zero, both extremely important

∗ One
∗ Empty place indicator
∗ 2106 clearly different from 216
∗ Two
∗ The number itself
∗ Zero, derives from the Arabic sifr
 Life Without Zero
∗ Can you imagine mathematics without zero?
∗ Numbers were used to count creatures or
objects
∗ 40 cows in the field
∗ Six loaves of bread at the marketplace
∗ Counting zero sheep or loaves of bread did
make much sense

∗ Zero was just not needed!

 Before Zero

∗ Numbers were used for thousands of

years before they used zero
∗ Historical records show different path
towards the concept
∗ Zero made appearances only to vanish again
∗ Mathematicians were searching for it yet did
not recognize its fundamental significance
Who invented the number
name zero?
• The number zero was invented independently in India and by the
Maya. In India a decimal system was used, like ours, but they
used an empty space for zero up to 3rd Century BC.

• This was confusing for an empty space was also used to

separate numbers, and so they invented the dot for a zero.

• The first evidence for the use of the symbol that we now know
as zero stems from the 7th century AD.

• The Maya invented the number zero for their calendars in the
3rd century AD.

• The name 'zero' comes from the Arabic language.

 Egyptians
∗ Egyptian
hieroglyphics were
used as early as
3500 B.C.E.
∗ Even without zero,
Egyptians became
masters of
mathematics.
 Greeks

∗ The Greeks brought mathematics to its

highest point in ancient times.
∗ Around 500 BC, the Greeks developed a
newer more sophisticated system
∗ This way avoided repeated letters
 Romans
∗ The Romans also
had a number
system
∗ It was a step back
from the less
sophisticated
Egyptian system.
 Still…

∗ The Egyptian, Greek and Roman number

systems still had no zeros

∗ Even though the Greek number system was

more sophisticated than the Egyptian and
Greek, it was not the most advanced.
 Babylonians
∗ 2500 B.C.E., the Babylonians used a system
of two symbols
∗ Base 60
∗ They sometimes used a space to represent
an empty position.
∗ By about 200 C.E., they used a pair of small
triangles to represent an empty position.
∗ Babylonians never actually invented a zero,
they made an important first step!
Babylonians
 India

∗ Hindu culture had a positional number system in

base ten
∗ They used a dot to represent an empty place
∗ Sunya which meant “empty” was the name for this dot
∗ At this point, the early zero was a placeholder and an
aid in computation
∗ By 500 C.E., the Hindus use a small circle to
represent Zero!
∗ This circle was recognized as a numeral
 Hindu- Arabic Numerals

∗ Arabic people recognized the value of the

Hindu system
∗ They adapted the numerals and computation
∗ Then spread the ideas in their travels
∗ The zero was named with the Arabic word
sifz
∗ The actual word “zero” came from Italy
 Spreading The News
∗ Leonardo of Pisa,
known as Fibonacci
∗ He brought the news
of zero and new
computational
methods to Europe in
his book
 Fear of Zero!

∗ Europeans resisted Hindu-Arabic numerals

∗ It seemed strange
∗ The numerals, including zero, were not
accepted
∗ Florence, Italy, passed a law prohibiting the
use of the numerals
∗ 0 could be changed to look like 6 or 9
∗ Slowly, the numbers became accepted
∗ 1500s
 Birth of Zero
∗ In the history of culture the
discovery of zero will always
stand out as one of the
greatest single achievements
of the human race.
-Tobias Danzig

∗ Without zero we would lack

∗ Calculus, financial accounting,
the ability to make arithmetic
computations quickly and
computers!
 Zero Is A Special Number
∗ If we add 0 to any number, the sum is the
original number (0+1=1)
∗ Same is true for subtraction
∗ If you multiply any number by 0, the product is
0. (0x1=0)
∗ If you raise any nonzero number to the power of
0, the resulting number is 1
∗ If you divide 0 by any nonzero, the quotient is 0
∗ Any number divided by 0 is undefined
 Zero is…..

∗ It is the number that separates positive

numbers from negative numbers.
∗ It is even.
∗ It is the integer that precedes one.
∗ Zero must sit in its rightful place on the
number line, before on and after negative
one .
 BUT….

∗ Yet zero sits at the end of the computer key

board and at the bottom of the telephone!

∗ Because we always start counting with one!

 Difficulties With Zero

∗ Writing numbers
∗ 100, 110, and 101
∗ Older children
∗ Only 50% of seven grader could correctly write
“two hundred thousand and forty-three”
∗ Addition and Subtraction problems
∗ 2000-169
∗ Multiplication and division problems
∗ 0x6 and 6/0
∗ Also 9x306
∗ Comparing decimal fractions
∗ 0.02 and 0.002 or 0.2 and 0.20
Thank You