Zero

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Zero – 0**

Order	nil
Numbers: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Zero is a special number. If there are zero things, there are not any things. There are none.

1 Example
2 Symbol
3 Arithmetic with Zero
4 History of zero
5 The place of zero as a number
6 References

[edit] Example

John has zero hats. John has no hat. John does not have a hat.

[edit] Symbol

The symbol for the number zero is "0".

[edit] Arithmetic with Zero

Zero is a special number. That is because:

If you add a number to zero, you get that number. For example, if you add three to zero, you get three. In symbols:

3 + 0 = 3

If you subtract zero from a number, you get that number. For example, if you subtract zero from three, you get three. In symbols:

3 - 0 = 3

If you multiply a number with zero, you get zero. For example, if you multiply forty three with zero you get zero. In symbols:

43 x 0 = 0

You can't divide a number by zero. That is against the rules of arithmetic. If you divide any number by zero with a calculator, you get an error.

[edit] History of zero

The idea of zero was first thought about in Babylon, India and in Central America at different times. Some places and countries did not know about a zero, which may have made it harder for those people to do mathematics.

Over hundreds of years the idea of zero was passed from country to country. From India and Babylon to other places, like Greece, Persia and the Arab parts of the world. The Europeans learned about zero from the Arabs.

[edit] The place of zero as a number

Zero is not used as a place number (ordinal number). This means that it is not used like 1, 2, or 3 to indicate the order, or place, of something, like 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

Some other things about zero:

The number zero is a whole number.
The number zero is not a positive number.
The number zero is not a negative number.
The number zero is an even number.

Any number divided by itself yields a result of one, except if that number is zero. In symbols:

0 ÷ 0 = "not a number."

In time, zero means "now". For example, a person is counting down the time to the start of something, such as a foot race or when a rocket takes off. The count is: "three, two, one, zero (or go)". Zero is the exact time of the start of the race or when the rocket takes off into the sky.