
The history of ‘zero’ remains unsettled - vit05
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/opinion/sunday/who-invented-zero.html
======
amriksohata
Indian mathematicians like Aryabhatta have never been given the same credit as
western ones, it all stems from the British invading India and seeing a
civilisation that was much older than what the Bible stated (4000 years). Now
the hardline Christian invaders couldn't have any of that, people that are
older than their own religion would have thrown doubt into their own people.
So they gave India very little credit.

------
frou_dh
It's a bit odd to intermingle talk of a _written_ symbol for zero with the use
of binary by computers. If I chisel open my Xeon, I don't think I'm going to
find 1 and 0 symbols, and likewise the vast majority of the source code for
what's running on it won't contain binary literals either.

The "ones and zeros" way of talking about computers to a general audience is a
bit of a cliche at this point IMHO.

The squirrelly nature of zero in a purely physical sense is interesting to
focus on. e.g. if you use the fingers on your hand to count, then zero can be
represented by either a closed fist, or by the absence of the hand altogether
(unary numbers). No need to involve bleep-bloop-computers or even a sheet of
paper.

I'm coining a phrase: "Unary is the native number system of the eyeball."

------
ComputerGuru
I expected something actually substantial, but apart from the opening gambit,
the remainder of the article is somewhat in jest.

~~~
simonh
Somewhat, yes, I suppose it’s just making the point that ‘the west’ doesnt
have a monopoly on foundational intellectual achievements.

~~~
KGIII
Much of math's foundation isn't from the west. Even our numerals aren't from
the west. They came from India by way of Arabia.

Also, I'd probably pick a different source if I were expecting deep commentary
about science or math. That's not intended as a slight, it's just about the
target audience.

------
otp124
I would use the word “discovered” rather than invented.

~~~
cyphar
Found the mathematical realist! I'm more of a formalist myself, given the
uncertain nature of where mathematical objects have to live if they are not
just a useful tool we came up with to understand our surroundings.

