Which Indian mathematician invented “zero”?
The rules governing the use of zero appeared for the first time in Brahmagupta’s book Brahmasputha Siddhanta (The Opening of the Universe), written in 628. Here Brahmagupta considers not only zero, but negative numbers, and the algebraic rules for the elementary operations of arithmetic with such numbers. In some instances, his rules differ from the modern standard. Here are the rules of Brahmagupta: *The sum of zero and a negative number is negative *The sum of zero and a positive number is positive *The sum of zero and zero is zero. *The sum of a positive and a negative is their difference; or, if they are equal, zero. *A positive or negative number when divided by zero is a fraction with the zero as denominator. *Zero divided by a negative or positive number is either zero or is expressed as a fraction with zero as numerator and the finite quantity as denominator. *Zero divided by zero is zero. In saying zero divided by zero is zero, Brahmagupta differs from the modern position. Mat
