The history of the number zero - Research Paper Example

For instance, the numbers 2011 and 211 represent two different numbers and have completely different sense. Secondly, zero is used in its form as a number itself i.e. 0. Both the above mentioned uses of zero have been exceedingly important. Yet, the two above described uses of zero cannot report historical evidence of creation of zero. It would not have been so easy for the term and idea behind the invention of the number to be widely accepted and used. The number and term zero has not been spontaneously derived concept.

It took a huge period to develop the concept and use of zero as a name and a symbol (O'Connor and Robertson, 2000). Zero as a number, symbol and a concept has been indeed important and is known possibly worldwide for its significant usage. The recognition, apprehension and functioning of zero has been the fundamental of the world now that today, zero fulfils a key role in mathematics as the real numbers, additive identity of the integers, and a lot of other algebraic structures. In addition, the concept of zero can be employed in calculus, accounting, finance, statistics, computers, and particularly in today's connected world.

The development of zero from being merely a placeholder to the driver of calculus has crossed centuries, and involved diverse and extensively great cognitive thinking, both in extent and scope globally (Kaplan and Seife, 2002). As a concept, zero indicates ‘nothing’ or ‘naught’. “How can nothing be something?” is a question that ancient Greeks asked themselves. Records have shown that they seemed to be uncertain about the interpretation of zero as a number. The creation and status of zero has led to philosophical and religious arguments by Middle-ages (Bourbaki, 1998).

As a matter of fact, today’s Arabic number system has originated in India, but is comparatively newly developed. From the beginning, people have been labeling amounts and measures with a variety of figures and symbols throughout centuries, while facing difficulties in performing most elementary arithmetic computations with those number systems. A counting system had been first developed by the Sumerians as they wanted to mark and keep the accounts of the quantities of their goods such as cattle, horses, and donkeys.

The drawback regarding the Sumerian system was that the system was positional which means that the positioning of a specific symbol as compared to others denoted its value. Around 2500 BC, Akkadians handed down The Sumerian system and in 2000 BC, the same was done by the Babylonians. The evolution of zero seems to have initiated from the Babylonians which has crossed may centuries and was very different from the symbol know to us today. Babylonians were the first to ideate a mark to to make it realized that a number had been missing from a column.

For instance, 0 in the number 2011 expresses that there are no hundreds in that number. By that time zero did not have any symbol to denote the space. Although Ancient Greeks have brought many famous mathematicians who learned the basic principles of their mathematics from the Egyptians and they had a number system, but that system lacked a placeholder like the one of Babylonians so they could not suggest a name to indicate that empty space. They might have contemplated the name to denote that place between numbers, but there is no such evidence to draw conclusion that the symbol even