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NAUGHTY TALE

The long trek of zero

Obaidur Rahman
THE digit 0 (zero), plays a central role in mathematics. It is believed that at around 2000 BC, it was the ancient Babylonians (modern-day Iraq) who first realized the need for a special marking to signify that a number is absent from a column. The 0 in 1035, for instance, points to the fact that there are no hundreds in that particular number. Instead of writing 0, these ancient people used space and later a punctuation symbol (two slanted wedges) to get the job done.
The ancient Greeks, regardless of their development in
mathematics, many of which were learnt from ancient Egyptians, were quite hesitant about the use of zero. “How can nothing be something?," the would argue. This view changed and around 130 AD, the Greeks were using a small circle with a long over-bar as zero. By 525 AD Romans were using the term. Nulla and later only the letter N as a symbol for zero. The
Mayans used a specific symbol for zero between 250AD and 900 AD. Though their symbol did not look like the present-day 0, it was indicative of the high level of development they hand attained.
The real birthplace of 0 is South-East Asia, where its extensive application in mathematics started from.
Today what we refer to as 0 is an ancient Indian invention. And the first proven document showing the application of 0 as a independent active numeral unit can be traced back to 7th century, developed by Indian
mathematicians like Aryabhata (around 5th century AD) and later Brahmagupta (around 7th century AD). Around 650 AD, the Indian mathematician
Brahmagupta applied dots to indicate zeros and these dots were referred as “sunya”, meaning zero. It is said that Brahmagupta developed this “sunya” from the ancient Babylonian astronomy.
However, modern concept of zero indeed comes from his work, especially from his book Brahmasputha Siddhanta (The Opening of the Universe) where he penned down the standard rules for reaching zero through addition, subtraction and the results of other mathematical operations.
At around 825 AD noted Persian scientist and father of Algebra, Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi applied this mathematical knowledge in his book “On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals" which introduced the number zero. Next, the 8th century Chinese astronomer and mathematician of Indian descent, Gutama Siddha, introduced 0 in the Chinese numeral system. It consisted of counting rods as numeral system which used
blank for zero. But it was through Al-Khwarzimi's work that Europe learnt about 0. The Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci who in 1202 AD, based on Al-Khwarizimi' s works wrote “Liber Abaci" meaning “The Book of Calculation” which not only introduced 0 to the existing Roman numeral system but also initiated the then feudal Europe with the numeral system that later became the most familiar numeral system known to mankind. Today it's called “The Hindu-Arabic Numeral System” as follows (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10).
The contributor is a freelance science writer.