The discovery of zero

Before the 5th century, the idea of zero did not exist. Its creation in India developed mathematics considerably because people were therefore able to calculate with ten digies, and in that way to imagine infinite big numbers.

For the anecdote, we guess that maybe zero looks like a circle because at the time, Indians used to calculate with stones, and when they moved it, a circle was drawn in the earth. So zero represents the movement from something to nothing.

Two century later, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta worked on the essential properties of zero.

As everyone knows it:

1+0 = 1

1-0 = 1

1 * 0 =0

But what makes 1/0? It has been a problem for a long time, because which number multiplied by zero equals one? Bhaskara II found the solution : ∞.

He explained it this way : the smaller and smaller fractions you divide one by, the bigger an bigger numbers you get. So when you approache 1/0, you tends toward infinite.

That was a really good idea to think that way, but the discovery of zero was not the only surprise that India gave us....