Zero. It equals nothing, but we use it in our everyday lives. How important is it really? And would we be able to live our life without it? Let’s look and see!

According to the book “Go Figure” by Johnny Ball, 0 was invented around 2000 BC, but wasn’t really used until around 600 AD. That means for most of the time humans have lived, 0 didn’t exist. That means there was no year 0! It went from 1 BC to 1 AD, with no year 0, so that means that this year, 2020, is really 2019 years after Christ was born, instead of 2020! Wow! Now you might be wondering, “How did people get along without 0”? Well, for the Romans, they used letters to denote numbers, so they didn’t need the number 0. Heck, Greek philosopher Aristotle hated the idea of 0, saying that it should be illegal because it made a mess when he tried to divide by it. For instance, 1 x 0 = 0, so 1 = 0 ፥ 0. But then 2 x 0 = 0, so 2 = 0 ፥ 0. That means 1=2! That’s impossible! Why, well, because you can’t divide by 0. It makes more sense to say how many times does 2 go into 6 or 6/2 than how many times does nothing go into 6, or 6 ፥ 0.

But does that mean that 0 isn’t needed? NO! Zero is most definitely needed! Without 0, computers wouldn’t be possible, because computers run on 1s and 0s, or ons and offs. What about counting? If there was no 0, we would need to use roman numerals, like XXXIII for 33! Or CCXXXII for 232! That got to be hard to use those numbers to math. And finally, If the mathematicians in India didn’t make the number 0, you might not have been able to live because the systems used to help birth children might not have worked, for they need math and 0!

So, what do you think? Is the number 0 important? I think 0 is important, but what about you?