CH 23: When Nothing is Something
It is rather remarkable to ponder that the mathematical idea and application of zero is relatively new. Only in the 6th century AD do we see the first proof of civilization using the number zero. Prior to that, people struggled working with numbers, particularly very large numbers, as the difference between a number like 15 and a number like 105 would be much harder to establish. Even the mighty Greeks, who held mathematics in high esteem, struggled with the notion of zero. They wrestled with the philosophical idea that nothing could be something, and these became deep religious questions, even many centuries later. In 9th century India we see the first practical use of the number zero, in that it was treated as any other number. Even the ancient Chinese, a civilization rich with sophistication, took until the 13th century to develop an actual symbol for zero.
It is rather easy in our modern society to take for granted the simplicity and necessity of the zero but for much of human civilization; it has been a complex quandary without an obvious solution. The absence of a number is in fact one of the most profound numbers there is.
Slow down, you move too fast