Ever wondered what's the origin of Zero?


	Ever wondered what's the origin of Zero?

dopesick

8-24-2009 1:55 AM

229 views

tags:

mathematics, origin of zero

dopesick says:

This was a good find, to me. Very interesting and made me feel a lot better to know these things.

Zero, a hard worker that went from a mere placeholder to what it is today. A winner in life. Example of a fighter!

See http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero for more.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/fee6f5ed-787e-4eab-8ab3-3852f4b18164/61DEF8DA-6784-4422-9488-609B461309A2/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero" style="font-size: 11px;">www.scientificamerican.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero"><H1>The Origin of Zero</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero"><H2>Much ado about nothing: First a placeholder and then a full-fledged number, zero had many inventors</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero">The number zero as we know it arrived  in the West circa 1200, most famously delivered by Italian mathematician  <A href="http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibBio.html">Fibonacci</A> (aka Leonardo of Pisa), who brought it, along with the rest  of the Arabic numerals, back from his travels to north Africa. But the  history of zero, both as a concept and a number, stretches far deeper  into history—so deep, in fact, that its provenance is difficult to  nail down.  </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.scientificamerican.com/img/CEE6CF2F-38EF-4CF4-8FCE-9D5725432251" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=history-of-zero"><P> "There are at least two discoveries,  or inventions, of zero," says Charles Seife, author of <A href="http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Biography-Dangerous-Charles-Seife/dp/0140296476"><EM>Zero:  The Biography of a Dangerous Idea</EM> </A>(Viking, 2000). "The one  that we got the zero from came from the Fertile Crescent." It first  came to be between 400 and 300 B.C. in Babylon, Seife says, before developing  in India, wending its way through northern Africa and, in Fibonacci's  hands, crossing into Europe via Italy.  </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/61DEF8DA-6784-4422-9488-609B461309A2/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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