| Abstrakt: |
Zero is a very versatile entity, making its appearance in a variety of environments. It can appear as a representation of the absence of items in arithmetic to the absence of sound in the merging of words, to the zero as a number in arithmetical operations. All these aspects of zero are fascinating in their own right. However, while the idea of arithmetical zero came to the human mind very early in its intellectual journey, the human response to derivative ideas has been driven by cultures. While, on the one hand, European cultures came to the conclusion that the universe exists and therefore, by definition, a non-existent entity cannot represent reality; on the other hand, the Indian philosophers, used to the ideas of non-existent entities in other contexts, especially in the grammar of conjunction of words and sounds, were fascinated by the null and assumed that it was the null that held the key. They therefore traced the idea of the origin of the universe to this null entity, which by definition is not knowable since it is formless. This divergence meant that intellectual perspectives and studies were driven by this differing approach to zero. It allowed Indian mathematicians to explore zero much earlier than their European counterparts. Modern science, having embraced the zero in all its glory, then went on to twist its existence in different ways. In the present article we discuss some of the aspects of this journey of zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
