Origin of the Number Zero

As ancient numerical systems came to be and evolved over time, so did the number zero. Zero did not seem to be an obvious start to the natural numbers to the mathematicians who pioneered the different number systems of the past. Having a symbol that meant basically “nothing” appeared in a few cultures but usually long after the initial creation of the culture’s number system and sometimes was a controversial idea. (Textbook)

The delay in adding zero to the number systems was most likely because in most cultures the earliest number systems were additive. This meant that they had symbols to represent certain numbers and merely added them all together to achieve the desired number. The symbols could be arranged in any order. This type of system did not require a symbol to represent zero in order to make any other numbers. Such systems are limited and eventually evolved into systems where the position of the symbols in a number changed its meaning. These positional systems are part of what created a need for a “place holder” symbol, which later would become the number zero. (Textbook, scientificamerican.com article)

For example, the Egyptian’s Hieroglyphic number system was additive and had no zero symbol. It dated back as far is 3500 B.C. and is one of the earliest known number systems. This system used pictures to represent the numbers 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc. Since order did not matter, the Egyptians did not even need a symbol to represent an empty space. Eventually the Egyptians created their hieratic system. The Hieratic was a more difficult system with more symbols (1-10, 20, 30, etc.) but still did not employ a symbol to represent zero as a number. There is evidence that Egyptians used their symbol for “good” ...

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... small circle was used for the number zero. (Kaplan)

Independently, the Mayans created multiple symbols for the number zero in their vigesimal (base 20) number system. The Mayan culture was at its peak from 300 B.C. to 900 A.D. and during this time there are many examples of glyphs used to represent zero. The most common was a stylized shell. Others included faces, animals, flowers, and different types of shells. (Kaplan)

The number zero now has many uses besides being the smallest natural number. It is used in set theory, logic (0 is used as the truth value for false), category theory, etc. Its position as the origin in graphs and number lines is essential to bridge the gap between negative and positive numbers. It is obvious that without it mathematics as we know it would not exist and though its creation seemed to have been delayed it was inevitable.