Underground Knowledge group members debate whether zero is a number

Is zero a number? Sounds like a simple enough question, but when posed to fellow ‘Undergrounders’ (members of our Underground Knowledge discussion group on Goodreads) it turns out to be quite complicated.

 

 

Keeping in mind ‘Undergrounders’ are global and from all walks of life, including professionals, academics and blue-collar workers, here’s a snapshot of what they think:

Lisa says: Historically it (zero) did not start out as a number, but as a placeholder (1, 10, 100, 1000, etc.) and to fill in empty columns. But as a human species, we like to complicate things…learning about stuff in more depth….science and shit….we are a bunch of crazies! Zero is not defined. Does it prove the presence of something? Does it prove the absence of something? In a mathematical problem, can you cancel out a zero?

Krishna says: …there r many anomalies in maths regarding 0…but if u see the decimal number system, it’s basically a set of repetitions… 00 to 09, then 10 to 19, and so on and if u see the next set, it’s 100,101,102……111,112……and so on… so here 0 is not treated as anything “special” but treated as other digits only…. so I think 0 is a number….

Harry says: It (zero) existed way before decimal systems. Babylonians (Mayans etc.) first had the concept of zero… “It began to take shape as a number, rather than a punctuation mark between numbers, in India in the fifth century A.D.,” says Robert Kaplan, author of The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero.

Masi says: Zero does have a value, it’s nothing. and it could be expressed as a word, symbol, or figure… (and) Less than zero just means it’s not a whole number, but less than it but it still has value.

James says: Ok, I’ve been converted to The Way of Zero. And fight all those (like Lisa!) who imply Zero is just nothing and not worthy