Discovery of Zero ! With the boom in the use of smartphones over the last decade or so we keep hearing words such as gigabytes, megabytes, terabytes, etc., from time to time. They have become part of our day to day lingo. However, how many of us give a thought to the fact that all these would not have been possible without the binary system consisting of 1 and 0. There would have been no computers, no electronics, no digital age, etc., without zero.
Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta is widely credited with introducing zero in the decimal system in the 5 th century AD. Later on in 7 th century AD another Indian mathematician ( The Great Mathematician !! ‘The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity’) and astronomer Brahmagupta went onto use zero in calculations such as addition, subtraction and division. The number was represented as a dot in those times.
References of zero can be found in the ancient Indian text called ‘Bhakshali’ manuscripts. The fascination with the concept of nothingness can be found as a continuing theme in Indian philosophy since ancient times. This fascination with zero was seen across many ancient civilizations such as in Mesopotamia, Babylon, Mayan civilizations.
The concept then travelled from India to the Arab region. Muhammad ibn Musaal-Khwarizhi who wrote ‘Al-Jabr’, and is known as the ‘Father of Algebra’ and developed the Arabic Numeric System, did a lot of research on zero. Gradually from Arabia zero travelled to Europe, thanks to Italian mathematician Fibonacci. The rest as they say, is history. The digit travelled around the world and completely revolutionized the world of science and technology. It’s just wow, the Discovery of Zero !
At the school, our students have always excelled in mathematics, just as in the case with other subjects, thanks to the support and guidance provided by our team of experienced teachers. This kind of value-driven approach with emphasis on holistic education has made us a favorite with parents looking for a top CBSE school in Coimbatore for their kids.