Zero: The Backdrop

Zero is a unique number. Technically every number is unique but Zero as a number and concept was considered dangerous by many for millenniums and we will delve little more looking at its history and its rise in application in various technology.

Many would have heard that Mathematics is called the Queen of Science and Number Theory is Queen of Mathematics. This quote is attributed to gifted Mathematician called Gauss. Our very own Srinivasan Ramanujan explored number theory in quite many ways. His mentor at Cambridge G H Hardy said during one his interactions with Ramanujan that ” Every positive integer was one of [Ramanujan’s] personal friends”

The word Zero has Hindu and Arabic roots. The Indian name for Zero was Shunya which Arab changed to Sifr and the western scholars changed it to Zephirus which was latin sounding and eventually they started calling cifra which became cipher and French Chiffre which means digit. Italian started calling Zefiro which finally became zero. Here is look at various civilizations that have used zero in various ways.

Babylonians

Babylonians used a sexagesimal which is base sixty. Here is how their numerals looks like. They used zero to represent the placeholder to identify difference between 601 and 61. They never used zero in the end or beginning which was the real application of zero. 

 

In todays world it will be somewhere in Iraq (Sumerian Culture of Mesopotamia) and the evidence is from 5000 years ago. 

Their zero looked like slanted double wedge used between numbers

Mayans

Mayans were a very successful Mesoamerican civilization started about 4000 years ago and they developed a very sophisticated script and number system. They only had three numbers which they used to represent all their numbers in the Vegismal i.e. base 20 system, a dot represented one, line represented 5 and shell represented zero which was in use by 3000 BC.

The Mayan priests used a number system that was really weird and how it helped them is something needs more study. Here is a picture taken from Charles Seife’s Book Zero. 

Indians

According to largely accepted view, Indians were the first to use Zero in a way that we know today and also developed the decimal system that is finally used all over the world. The Carbon Dating of Bhakshali Manuscript has pushed the dates of written zero by another 500 years to 4th Century AD. 

Earlier this inscription in the Chaturbhuj Temple of Gwalior was considered earliest written proof of Zero and was dated 875 AD.

How zero was found by Indians is difficult to find but there are many texts and mathematicians using this much before the evidence found in temples and scriptures? Indian scholars have used Shunya and Nothingness as philosophical construct for a long time. The mathematical use of zero and binary as well decimal system was extensively used by Indians. 

Here is how the numerals have changed over the years

Arabs

Arabs had trading relations with Indians for many years and they carried the concept of Zero to the western world. One of the important scholars who wrote many books on Mathematics was Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi. One of the books was Al-jabr wa’l muquabla, a treatise on how to solve elementary equations. Al-jabr which means something like completion gave us term known by everyone Algebra. Also Algorithm is a word which is corruption of his name al-Khowarizmi.     

For a long time these numerals were called Arabic by most of the European world.

Chinese

The Chinese started using the open circle that we now use for Zero in their system. The number Zero reached China through India.

Europeans

All the history so far points to the fact that Europeans were last to take Zero and the decimal number system in their use. The concept of Zero did not fit the Aristotelian principles and hence they considered Zero to be dangerous as it questioned the very presence of God that was proven by Aristotelian principles and hence supported by Church for a long time. Some time in History use of Zero was considered blasphemous and there were mathematicians who were thrown out of their communities. 

Eventually Zero succeeded and opened up the slew scientific discoveries.

Future

The concept of black holes, creation of universes, expansion or contraction of galaxies and hopefully space faring earthlings will have to harness the concept of Zero. Zero and Infinity is two sides of the same coin and their existence and our ability to understand will decide on how  the world is going to be.

Also we Indians should not think about the glorious past and keep harping about it. We should see the present and young Indians should know what was done then. Unfortunately what was done is either lost or in languages that many of current generations don’t know. I think even then knowledge was never for masses but in hands of few and always encrypted. That has changed now with openness and internet revolution and we should enable that for all the younger generations.

The article is inspired by the book Zero The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. If you like this you will like that book.