Who invented zero

Surprisingly, the best known mathematicians among the Ancient Greeks neither had a name for zero nor did they use a placeholder like the Babylonians. The first time we have a record of zero being understood as both a symbol and as a value in its own right was in India. About AD the mathematician Brahmagupta, amongst others, used small dots under numbers to represent a zero.

So their version of zero was seen as having a null value as well as being a placeholder. Brahmagupta was also the first to show how zero could be reached via addition and subtraction and the results of operations with zero.

He did however get it wrong when it came to dividing by zero! We know about this largely because of the Bakhshali manuscript, an ancient Indian text filled with mathematics and text in Sanskrit form.

It was discovered by a local farmer in and was originally thought to be from the ninth century but a few years ago carbon dating showed the oldest pages to be from sometime between AD to AD.

The zero then made its way from India to China and then back to the Middle East. By the ninth century the zero was part of the Arabic numeral system in a similar shape to the present day oval we now use. The Italian mathematician Fibonacci played a large part in introducing zero to the mainstream in the s, and it was adopted by Italian merchants and German bankers for accounting purposes. Meet the team of mathematics teachers who created Blutick and find out more about our partners and supporters - we wouldn't be here without them.

Blutick is trusted by teachers and students all over the world - but don't take our word for it! Try it for yourself today. We are a friendly team based in Cambridge in the UK. If philosophical and cultural factors found in India were important to the development of zero as a mathematical concept, it would explain why other civilizations did not develop zero as a mathematical concept, said van der Hoek.

The first modern equivalent of numeral zero comes from a Hindu astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta in His symbol to depict the numeral was a dot underneath a number. He also wrote standard rules for reaching zero through addition and subtraction and the results of operations that include the digit. A circle inscribed on a temple wall in Gwalior, India, dates back to the ninth century. According to the University of Oxford, this is the oldest recorded example of zero. The numeral can also be seen on an ancient Indian scroll called the Bhakehali Manuscript.

Discovered in , the scroll was assumed to have been a contemporary of the temple in Gwalior, but modern carbon dating reveals its origin in the third or fourth century. Thus, many scientists opine that India discovered zero. After its development in India, zero would be taken back by the Arabian voyagers to their cities and towns.

Eventually, the number would reach Baghdad by AD. In the ninth century, A Persian mathematician, Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi, worked on equations that equalled zero. Thus, Algebra was invented. He also developed quick methods for multiplying and dividing numbers, known as algorithms. By Ad, the dot had transformed and taken an oval shape that closely resembled the modern zero number.

Europeans in the Middle Ages were still conducting business using Roman numerals. But trade routes did more than move silks and spices from the East to the West—they also moved knowledge. He quickly understood that this system could improve bookkeeping and accounting in Europe. He was intrigued an ancient Babylonian inscription in a display. This early experience led him to study ancient languages and to spend his life uncovering ancient mysteries contained in inscriptions from Southeast Asia.

He believed that numerals had originated in civilizations throughout Asia that shared a common culture based in the religions of Buddhism or Hinduism. Then, in the course of his work, he came across an untranslated inscription found on a stone that he called K, from an ancient temple at Sambor on Mekong in Cambodia. Translating the writing, he was stunned to discover that it contained the elusive zero that he had hoped to find!

Figures 1 , 2. This proved that zero had originated in the East, because this zero found in Cambodia was carved before the work of Arab mathematicians. This early finding proved that our written digits and the zero had an Eastern, Asian origin [ 4 ]. This text contained an ancient zero represented by a small circle. The age of this zero was not known, but some experts believed it was very old.

Unlike K, this manuscript did not conveniently include a date in the text, so it was hard to determine when it was written. Also, scholars believed that parts of the manuscript had been written at different times. In [ 5 ], the Bodleian permitted a small piece of the bark material to be removed for radiocarbon dating. Results indicated that the portion containing the zero dates from the third or fourth century.

If this is correct, the Bakhshali manuscript is older than K, and older than any inscription containing zero yet discovered. Some experts are not convinced. Their argument is that the section removed for testing did not contain any writing—and because the pages are believed to have been written at different times, this presents a problem.

Scientists are hoping the Bodleian Library will conduct further tests on other parts of the manuscript. Many questions remain—how accurate is the method of dating used on the manuscript? Will other, older zeros be discovered?

And finally, how did the idea of zero move from India to Cambodia and Indonesia and then spread to the rest of the world? What we do know is that the zero we use today was born in Southern Asia!

We hope future historians of mathematics will fill in more pieces of this intriguing puzzle. So why did an Indians civilization invent zero? While the Greeks believed zero was nothing, nothingness was very important in certain religions of the East, including Buddhism and Hinduism.

Perhaps Indian religion and philosophy hold a clue.