![]() ![]() ![]() With the birth of zero in the East and the acceptance in the West, we have the mathematics and methods that we use today.Babylonian Mathematics develops from the times of the early Sumerians to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC in Mesopotamia, and is especially known for the development of the Babylonian Numeral System A Babylonian mathematical tablet preserved at Yale, circa 1800-1600 B.C.E It was also commonly known as nil, or null, or naught at different times. It led to the name zero, which was referred to by many different names, zero, sunya, sifr, zephirus, cifra, and cipher (71). As the Arab Nation got ahold of these ideas, they continued to build upon them. With zero receiving a value, it could no longer be forgotten or ignored. This acceptance of zero is what lead to Brahmamagupta changing zero from becoming merely a placeholder to also being a value between -1 and 1 (70). They used zero and base-10 to do more complex mathematics. Indian mathematicians did more than just accepting zero, but they transformed it and gave it a greater role which it could utilize its fullest power (66). The void played an important role in the Hindu religion, so it flourished (Seife 64). It started with the Babylonians, but then was welcomed and used in India. Therefore, because of zero, a separation of religion and science occurred.Īlthough it was rejected in the West, the idea of zero flourished in the East. Atomism became associated with atheism and the Aristotelian doctrine was associated with the existence of God (47). As Aristotelian view of the universe and the proof of God's existence (46). This closed space was based upon the Pythagorean universe, and how the planets move. The other was from Aristotle, which said that we were in a closed space, and that infinite points between Achilles and the Tortoise are really just a figment of Zeno's imagination. In attempts to prove Zeno's paradox, two schools of thought were created, the atomism, which said atoms are the smallest things that cannot be divided, then eventually, Achilles' atoms would pass the tortoise's atoms (45). Although zero did not initially begin to be used in the West after this, it did create a separation in beliefs. As this paradox could not be proven, mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers alike tried to explain it, although it could be simply proven using limits. Zeno wrote a paradox, about Achilles and the Tortoise, that sparked more thoughts about zero. Some took advantage of this misunderstanding of the number zero-like Zeno. This created a problem for the Babylonians, so they needed to find a way to solve that problem (Seife 25). The only problem that comes with this is how do you write the number 60? Because the Babylonian number system is in base 60, the symbol for one and for sixty are the same, but the sixty is supposed to be in the second position rather than the first. Similar to our current system where 1, 10, and 100 all are represented with the same symbol, just in a different position (Seife 24). Each groups of the symbols represented a certain number of stones moved and each column represented a different value. The Babylonian numbering system was like an abacus, but rather than being vertical, it was inscribed onto clay tablets. In Babylon, the number system was in base-60, which was unique because most other societies were using base-5, -10, -15, or -20. In the west, the number system was in base-10 as it is today. However, none of these included zero until the need in the East. Most of mathematics was being done using repeated letters or different symbols for every number, similar to what we use today. When it came do doing mathematics later down the road, there was different numerals used to represent the numbers. However, there was no purpose to count zero things, such as zero sheep or zero loaves of bread. The first records of counting were with a wolf bone with notches carved into it (Seife 6). ![]() There was a time before it existed, as did any number. It is hard to imagine a life without zero, just as it is difficult to imagine a life without seven or nineteen. ![]()
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