Stone to Silicon

Math & science · 628 CE

Zero as a number

Brahmagupta gives rules for arithmetic with zero and negative numbers.

In the Brahmasphutasiddhanta he treated zero as a number in its own right, with rules such as a number minus itself is zero. Zero completed place value and made algebra with signed numbers possible.

See it in the living treeWikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

What it led to 1