Why the number 0 was banned for 1500 years

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Published 2022-11-24
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Most of the material from this video was from the book Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife.

3 Paradoxes the Gave Us Calculus
   • 3 Paradoxes That Gave Us Calculus  

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0:00 Intro
0:46 The Time Before Zero
2:00 Humans Invent Zero
5:40 Zero's Exile
9:44 Zero's Reincarnation
11:05 Zero's Reign

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Creator - Jade Tan-Holmes
Script - Zoe Cocchiaro
Cinematography - Simon Mackenzie
Animations - Tom Groenestyn
Music - epidemic sound

All Comments (21)
  • @aakhthuu
    The number zero must have been invented immediately after the first maths exam
  • @joshwi4193
    I can't believe they banned it for 15 years
  • Indian history on science is still under rated what we discovered in those fields are unbelievable for that era but no one want to show it
  • @Eric-zo8wo
    0:07: 🔢 The concept of zero didn't exist for 1,500 years and caused controversy when it was invented. 3:48: ! The Babylonians invented the symbol for zero as a placeholder to distinguish between numbers. 7:42: 🔢 The Greeks rejected zero in their mathematical system due to its association with non-existence and the denial of God. 10:08: 🧮 The concept of zero in mathematics originated in ancient India and played a crucial role in the development of modern algebra. 13:13: 🤔 The video explores the significance of zero in mathematics and how different cultures' beliefs influenced its invention or discovery. Recap by Tamm
  • I know zero is very important in mathematics but didn't know that Pythagoras and Fibonacci were both involved along with the Indians in such rich history and drama. Thanks as always Jade!
  • @MrMirville
    Zero was never banned from Western thought. The Greeks opted for the use of 27 greek letters to represent numbers from 1 to 999 and they already used a small circle to indicate that a 3-digit column was empty. The Romans used the minus sign, normally used to represent negative numbers (debts essentially) without any figures to mean zero.
  • In India, Zero is called Shunya. Indians were ofcourse familiar with it as it is mentioned even in Vedas, and it became one of the most important thing in Indian philosophies, from Vendanta to Mahayana Buddhism. Brahman is said to be ultimate reality who is full in itself, but it is also shunya at the same time. There is verse in Isha Upanishad "That is perfect, this is perfect, what is taken from perfect is perfect and what remains after taking it out is also perfect" It was Aryabhatta who invented symbol for 0 and other numbers, which were taken by Arabic traders and are Known as Arabic numerals instead in the west. (Aryabhatta was also the person who first said that earth rotates on its axis and he calculated accurate circumference of the earth, he have done some other cool stuffs also) Brahmagupta introduced concept of negative numbers. 0 is necessarily not nothing but where both opposite qualities combine. Like if there is elevation of ground, that will be positive and if there there is depression, it is negative, the place where the ground neutralises is the 0. That is how concept of negative numbers took place. Brahmagupta was also the first person who proved that 0 divided by 0 is infinity. He also have done some other cool stuff.
  • @MedlifeCrisis
    Welcome to all the Indian commenters who will be here in 3, 2, 1…zero
  • Zero wasn't always around but it was certainly always a round.
  • Brilliant stuff. I really must commend you on the effort you've put into this video and for condensing the history of zero to 16 mins! Keep up the amazing work!
  • Back in the C64 days, the simplest way of dividing in assembler was to repeatedly subtract the divisor until it was less than the numerator. The number of subtractions was the answer and the remaining numerator was the remainder. If the divisor was zero, you'd end up in a never-ending loop as the numerator never decreased. Not sure if this was actually "infinity" since infinity is where parallel lines meet and recurring results converge but zero would actually never converge like that. I think.
  • Pingala (c. 3rd/2nd century BC[32]), a Sanskrit prosody scholar,[33] used binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables (the latter equal in length to two short syllables), a notation similar to Morse code.[34] Pingala used the Sanskrit word śūnya explicitly to refer to zero
  • @swicked86
    Actually it would be interesting to hear you cover all the math of mesopotamia.
  • This was a very good look at the history of Zero! Love your videos, please keep going!
  • @yllbardh
    that's why romans could write their numbers without an empty space holder
  • I love the effort you put into your videos by making all those props. Hope you keep doing it!
  • Your excitement and love for mathematics and science is intoxicating. I wish you had existed when I was a kid. Maybe I wouldn't have failed math in school so much. :)
  • @PatientZiro
    My bank account wishes that zero have never been invented.