I’m not very good at math, but I love history…I enjoy finding out how we got to the present from the past. For this cache, you’ll learn a bit about the zero.
Ahhh…the zero…what is it? A number? Can you have a number of nothings? But wait…don’t we need it? Otherwise, how would you tell if something is 3, 30 or 303? How would geocachers get along without the zero!
We wont get into a debate here…we are here to geocache, not argue about the merits (or lack thereof) of zero being a number.
The zero took a long time to evolve and did so through various civilizations.
The Babylonians apparently didn’t need a zero for a long time as they relied on context to indicate the difference between numbers…but because they had a sexagesimal system (base 60) it was a bit easier for them.
The mathematics of the ancient Greeks had little use for a placeholder…at least in their geometry. They did use a 0 symbol as a place holder in astronomy though. Ptolemy in fact used in his treatise Almagest, but it didn’t catch on.
It appears that the zero, as a number, evolved in India…but there they used a dot initially. In the 7th century, zero as a number first appears. Eventually they also turned to use a small “o” as well.
Islamic mathematicians picked the number up from the Indians…but failed to use it in algebra. Eventually, it reached Europe through the Spanish Moors in the 11th century.
But it wasn’t until the 17th century though that zero was recognized as a valid solution to algebraic problems by Albert Girard, a French mathematician.
Of note…the Mayans developed their own number system, independent of Eurasian influence…but they used a shell symbol to represent zero…other historians believe that the zero predates the Mayans and was invented by the Olmecs.