400BC
The Babylonians were the first to develop the
concept of the zero as position marker indicating an empty
space in a sequence of numbers. They used two wedge symbols
for this purpose allowing them to distinguish between 26 and
206 hanging gardens.
Meanwhile the concept of zero went
largely unnoticed in Ancient Greece, except for a group of
astronomers who used "O" as a position marker. Theories
suggest that "O" stood variously for "Omicron" (the first
letter of the Greek word for nothing or "ouden"), "Obol" (a
coin considered to be of little value, similar to the British
view of the Euro), or "Oh ****, I can't make this calculation
work!"
130AD
The Romans may have been very good at
feeding Christians to big cats and building roads without
bends, but they were sadly lacking in the zero department. In
130 AD Ptolemy attempted to change this by adding "O"
(Omicron) to the number system. However 'nothing' came of it.
700-900AD
India's answer to Alan Titchmarsh made plans for a
flower garden in Gwalior, a small town south of Delhi. His
instructions, inscribed on a stone tablet, prescribed 187 by
270 hastas of land in order to produce 50 garlands per day for
the local temple. This position marker zero was practically
identical in appearance to the "0" we use today. Good news for
the temple, bad news for the local hay fever
sufferers.
Most importantly, India gave birth to zero
as a number in its own right. For the first time, the abstract
concept of nothingness had a symbol, and did more than just
mark a space in a string of digits. A trio of Indian
mathematicians struggled to slot this symbol into their
developing decimal number system. In particular, the Hindu
astronomer Brahmagupta worked out the rules for addition,
subtraction and multiplication by zero. Dividing by zero, on
the other hand, proved to be a more troublesome pursuit and is
still causing headaches today. Divide by zero and computers
crash, civilisation crumbles and maths teachers reach for the
sherry bottle.
1202AD
Italian mathematician Fibonacci introduces the
concept of zero to Europe, and 'nothing' is ever the same
again......
