Some say zero is a number and others say it isn’t. Is zero really nothing or does it have a value of its own? If it has a value then that would make it a number or something instead of nothing.
For me, in physics, zero is an infinite.
Zero is an interesting number, and has some interesting history behind it.
Offhand, I can’t recall any names or dates (I do believe it was an Enlightenment mathematician) but one man took on the entire Catholic Church about the number 0. The Church declared the number to be the anti-christ, because it signifies nothing, and if God/Christ is everywhere/everything, then 0 would be the exact opposite.
The mathematician proved mathematically to the Church that the number 0 actually is Christ, and if I recall correctly it went something like this:
(1 + (-1)) + (2 + (-2)) + (3 + (-3)) + … = 0 + 0 + 0 + … = 0
He said (something to this effect) that the number 0 is actually the summation of all real numbers, and therefore represents everything. (of course, this is from memory, and I didn’t go into the study of this particular bit of history too much)
This brings up some curious arguments, though. Most mathematicians today argue that 0 is nothing, and the sum of all numbers is undefined.
Then there are those who believe that 0 is indeed the combination of all things.
I’ve even heard some go so far as to say that 0 is the existence of a singularity, or the nonexistence of anything else from which one can discern the existence of the singular thing.
It’s all very confusing, but it seems to me that the “value” of the number 0 must be subjective, as indeed all math (and by association, all language, perception, and truth) is subjective.
Damn you, subjectiveness!
Zero is a neutral.
It’ s a number the way other numbers are - which is not a number (as most people think of it) at all.
You can count things with numbers, but counting numbers? Try finding one.
What most people refer to as number is a symbol to denote a property. It’s a language tool, and number doesn’t refer to anything real any more than word does.
Zero is a place holder. It sits on the divide between positive and negative and is neither.
If zero is god then why do atheists use it?
The only important numbers are zero, one, and infinity.
to Ulysses, you bring up an interesting point and ill do more research and develop my own view. and to AlternateParallelReality, that is also an interesting way of viewing the concept. and finally to unrealist42, even if zero is God, atheists would have no choice but to use it, unless the form their own mathematical system, but they would just be renaming zero.