Zero was once banned. In 1299, the city of Florence told its bankers not to use the new numerals in their account books. So who came up with nothing?
Babylon: a gap, then a sign
The Babylonians needed a way to show an empty place in a number. At first they just left a gap. Later, they marked it with a little sign. It held the place, but it wasn't a number yet.
The Maya: a shell
The Maya, in Central America, invented a zero of their own, drawn as a shell.
India: zero becomes a number
In 628 AD, the mathematician Brahmagupta did something new: he treated zero as a real number, with rules. Any number minus itself is zero. Any number times zero is zero.
Europe: the ban
Mathematicians in the Arab world carried these numbers west, and in 1202 Fibonacci's book brought them to Europe.
Florence's bankers didn't trust them. Add one zero to the end, and 10 becomes 100. So in 1299 their guild banned the new numerals from account books.
Why zero matters
Zero does two jobs. It holds an empty place: that's why 205 and 25 are different numbers. And it's a number in its own right, with its own rules.
What's zero times one million?
Show the answer
0. Any number times zero is zero, which is one of Brahmagupta's rules.
Save this for your next test
- Zero holds an empty place: 205 is not 25.
- Zero is also a number with its own rules.
- Any number minus itself is zero.
- Any number times zero is zero.
Read the video transcript
- Zero was once banned. In 1299, the city of Florence told its bankers not to use it.
- So who came up with nothing?
- First, the Babylonians. They needed a way to show an empty place. At first they left a gap. Later, they marked it with a little sign.
- The Maya, in Central America, invented a zero of their own, drawn as a shell.
- Then, in India in 628 AD, a mathematician called Brahmagupta did something new. He treated zero as a real number, with rules.
- Any number minus itself is zero. Any number times zero is zero.
- Arab mathematicians carried these numbers west, and in 1202, Fibonacci brought them to Europe.
- Florence's bankers didn't trust them. Add one zero, and 10 becomes 100. So they banned them.
- But today, zero is why 205 and 25 are different numbers. It holds the place.
- Now you: what's zero times one million? Tell me in the comments.
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