History of zero

 

Symbol

The symbol for the number zero is "0". It is the additive identity of common numbers. This means that if a number is added to 0, then that number would remain unchanged.

History of zero

The idea of zero was first thought about in Babylon, India and in Central America at different times. Some places and countries did not know about zero, which may have made it harder for those people to do mathematics. For example, the year after 1 BC is AD 1 (there is no year zero). In India, zero was theorized in the seventh century by the mathematician Brahmagupta.

Over hundreds of years, the idea of zero was passed from country to country, from India and Babylon to other places, like Greece, Persia and the Arab world. The Europeans learned about zero from the Arabs, and stopped using Roman math. This is why numbers are called "Arabic numerals".

The place of zero as a number

Zero is almost never used as a place number (ordinal number). This means that it is not used like 1, 2, or 3 to indicate the order, or place, of something, like 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. An exception to this is seen in many programming languages.

Some other things about zero:

Any number divided by itself equals one, except if that number is zero. In symbols:

0 ÷ 0 = "not a number."

In time, zero means "now". For example, when a person is counting down the time to the start of something, such as a foot race or when a rocket takes off, the count is: "three, two, one, zero (or go)". Zero is the exact time of the start of the race or when the rocket takes off into the sky.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GRAPH IN MATH...

Image
GRAPH IN MATH What Is a Graph? Math and numbers can be hard to understand, especially if you have a lot of data you are comparing. However, a graph can make it easier. Why? Because a graph is data or numbers put into an easy-to-follow picture. And depending on the type of numbers you are working on graphing; you might need a different type of graph for each. For example, if you were comparing different color shirts in your classroom, you might use a bar graph or pie chart. However, if you want to connect numbers in a line, you might use a line graph. Graphs vs. Charts While you might hear  chart  and  graph  used interchangeably, these two terms are not exactly the same. Graphs are types of charts. Charts are a way to present information graphically, including graphs, diagrams, tables, and other visual representations of data. So while all graphs are charts, not all charts are graphs. Since that’s confusing, it might be easier to remember that visual representations ...
Read more

RATIO & PROPORTIONS

  RATIO & PROPORTION Ratio  A ratio is a comparison of two quantities. ● A ratio can be written as a fraction; ratios are mostly written in the simplest form. ● In the above example, the ratio of rice to water in terms of the number of cups can be written in three different ways as 1 : 2 or  1/2 or 1 to 2 . Properties of Ratio ● A ratio has no unit. It is a number. For example, the ratio of 8 km to 4 km is written  as 8 : 4 = 2 : 1 and not 2 km : 1 km. ● The two quantities of a ratio should be of the same unit. The ratio of 4 km to 400 m  is expressed as (4 × 1000) : 400 = 4000 : 400 = 10 : 1 ● Each number of the ratio is called a term. ● Order of the terms in a ratio cannot be reversed.  We can get equivalent ratios by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by a common number. Proportion When two ratios are equal , we say that the ratios are in Proportion. This is denoted as a : b : : c : d and it is read as ‘a is to b as c is to d’....
Read more