Overview

The zero was invented three times in the history of the mathematics. The Babylonians, the Maya, and the Hindus all invented a symbol to represent nothing. However, only the Hindus came to understand the importance of what the zero represented. Today we use a descendant of the Hindu zero, which had a long journey and encountered much resistance until finally accepted in the West.

Background

Before any invention can be made and accepted in a society, there has to be a need. One of the reasons the zero was not developed along with other numbers is that many early number systems had no real need for a symbol to represent nothing. This may sound strange, but even today we rarely use the term zero in everyday speech. We say, "There are no apples," not "There are zero apples."

The...