What are Some Properties of Zero?
Zero is a fascinating little number, and it has some very distinctive properties. Ever since zero was invented, mathematicians have struggled to define it and to use it in their work, with the properties of zero being arrived at through the use of mathematical proofs which are intended to illustrate those properties at work. Even with proofs to support the rationale behind some of the properties of zero, this number can be quite slippery. People haven’t always used zero. A crude form of zero as a placeholder appears to have been used by Babylonian mathematicians, but Indian mathematicians are usually credited with coming up with the idea of zero as a number, rather than just a placeholder. Almost immediately, people struggled to define the number and learn how it worked, and explorations into the properties of zero got quite complex. Numbers can be classified as positive or negative, depending on whether they are greater or less than zero, but zero itself is neither. Zero is also even,
Zero is a fascinating little number, and it has some very distinctive properties. Ever since zero was invented, mathematicians have struggled to define it and to use it in their work, with the properties of zero being arrived at through the use of mathematical proofs which are intended to illustrate those properties at work. Even with proofs to support the rationale behind some of the properties of zero, this number can be quite slippery. People haven’t always used zero. A crude form of zero as a placeholder appears to have been used by Babylonian mathematicians, but Indian mathematicians are usually credited with coming up with the idea of zero as a number, rather than just a placeholder. Almost immediately, people struggled to define the number and learn how it worked, and explorations into the properties of zero got quite complex.
