The History of the Number Zero

A detailed tutorial on the history of the number zero. Step by step tutorial including several citations of the history of the number zero for reference.

Zero is a number we’ve heard about a lot. It’s not a counting number, it’s not negative or positive, it’s not even or odd. It’s not a prime number, it doesn’t even really fit the definitions of a real number or a whole number although it is considered to be both. It is certainly one of the most interesting numbers you can work with. In writing, 0 is distinguished from the capital letter O by either being a bit smaller or having a bit more of an oval shape. Often when handwriting as opposed to typing a line will be drawn through the zero, although this can be confused with an empty set if you are learning set theory. The name zero came from several different lanuages, in which words similar to zero translated to “is empty” “nothing”, and “void”. When doing calculations you must be sure to know the difference between 0 and NaN – “not a number”. Often things that look like they should be zero (0 / 0, for example) are really not numbers at all.

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