Think of it as an empty container, signifying that that place is empty. In order for this to work, we have to have a way to mark an empty place in a number, or the place values won’t come out right. ![]() These numerals can stand for ones, tens, hundreds, or whatever depending on their position in the number. When we write a number, we use only the ten numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Well, before this starts to sound like a Zen koan, let’s look at how we use the numeral “0.” Arab and Indian scholars were the first to use zero to develop the place-value number system that we use today. What is zero? Is it a number? How can the number of nothing be a number? Is zero nothing, or is it something? ![]() We call the set of natural numbers plus the number zero the whole numbers. If the farmer does not have any sheep, then the number of sheep that the farmer owns is zero. ![]() The use of three dots at the end of the list is a common mathematical notation to indicate that the list keeps going forever.Īt some point, the idea of “zero” came to be considered as a number.These are called the natural numbers, or sometimes the counting numbers. The real number system evolved over time by expanding the notion of what we mean by the word “number.” At first, “number” meant something you could count, like how many sheep a farmer owns.
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