THE

INVENTION
AND
DISCOVERY OF
SYMBOL ZERO.

Mathematics
Introduction
 Zero, written 0, is both a number and the
numerical digit used to represent that number in
numerals. It plays a central role in mathematics as
the additive identity of the integers, real numbers,
and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is
used as a placeholder in place value systems. In the
English language, 0 may be called zero, null, nil,
"o", or nought. Informal or slang terms for zero
include zilch and zip.
 0 is the integer preceding 1. In most systems, 0 was identified
before the idea of negative things that go lower than zero was
accepted. Zero is an even number, because it is divisible by 2. 0 is
neither positive nor negative. By some definitions 0 is also a
natural number, and then the only natural number not to be positive.
Zero is a number which quantifies a count or an amount of null size.
 The value, or number, zero is not the same as the digit zero, used in
numeral systems using positional notation. Successive positions of
digits have higher weights, so inside a numeral the digit zero is used
to skip a position and give appropriate weights to the preceding and
following digits. A zero digit is not always necessary in a positional
number system, for example, in the number 02. In some instances, a
leading zero may be used to distinguish a number.
History
 Once upon a time there was no zero. Of course people knew if they
had nothing, but there was no mathematical notation for it. Zero
was independently invented only three times.
 The first recorded zero is attributed to the Babylonians in the 3rd
century BC. A long period followed when no one else used a zero
place holder. But then the Mayans, halfway around the world in
Central America, independently invented zero in the fourth
century CE. The final independent invention of zero in India was
long debated by scholars, but seems to be set around the middle of
the fifth century. It spread to Cambodia around the end of the 7th
century. From India it moved into China and then to the Islamic
countries. Zero finally reached western Europe in the 12th century.
Etymology

 The word "zero" came via French

zéro from Venetian zero, which
(together with cipher) came via
Italian zefiro from Arabic ‫ر‬88‫ صف‬,
ṣafira = "it was empty", ṣifr =
"zero", "nothing".
References
 http://www.mediatinker.com/blog/arc
hives/008821.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(numb
er
)
 http://www.etymonline.com/zero.php