Invented Zero in India

One of the most important questions which is widely asked is Zero invented by whom? Zero was independently invented by the Babylonians, Mayans, and Indians. Although ancient civilizations were already aware of the concept of nothing but did not have any symbol or letter for it. The concept of Zero is something that we have hypothesized. We also have other names for it such as nought and nil, and even slang terms like Zip, Nalda, Zilch. In Tennis, we use “love” rather than zero and in cricket, we use “duck” in place of zero. It is quite tedious to imagine life without “ Zero”, as it has always been around. Also, it is significant to know who invented zero first and the history of zero in India. Through this article, we will learn who invented zero Aryabhatta or Brahma Gupta and the history of zero in India by Aryabhatta.

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Who Invented Zero First? 

The first person to report zero as a number in its own right was the astronomer and Mathematician Brahmagupta in 628 CE.  The Mathematician Brahmagupta did not only discover zero but also wrote rules for Mathematical operations like addition and subtraction using zero. 

Who Discovered Zero First?

The record of zero for the first time being understood both as a symbol and as a value in its own right was in India. About 650 AD, the Mathematician Brahmagupta used a small numbers to represent zero.

The dots were known as “Shunya” which means empty as well as “Kha” which means place. So their version of zero was observed as having a null value as well as a placeholder.

Brahmagupta was the first to show how zero could reach through addition or subtraction and the outcomes of operations with zero. He went wrong when it came to dividing zero by zero.

The number zero winged its way from the country India to China and then back to the Middle East. The Mathematician Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi about 770 AD was the first to work with equations that were equal to zero (now known as the algebra), though he called it “sifr”.  The zero was a part of the Arabic Numeral System by the ninth century in a similar shape to the present-day oval shape we use.

History of Zero In India

How could the world imagine life without the concept of zero? The zero functions as a placeholder to accurately represent an amount. Is it 25,250, 2500, 250000. Could you read this number without zero? And if one zero is accidentally addressed, would it make a big difference.

The Arabic number system that we use today comes from India. The first Indian to use zero in Arithmetic Operations was Brahmagupta. This occurred about 650 AD. Brahmagupta writings along with other items and species were carried by Arabian traders to the rest of the world.

The zero in Baghdad was reached by 773 AD and Middle Eastern Mathematicians would relate their number system to the Indian system. Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizimi in 800s AD was the first to operate on equations that would equal zero. He named the zero “sirf” which means empty.  The number zero is represented as ‘0” by 879 AD.

In 1202 AD, an Italian Mathematician named Fibonacci began to force Italian Mathematicians and German Bankers to use zero.  These businessmen soon realized that using zero would balance their accounts.

The European Frenchman Rene Descartes used the concept of zero. He used 0, 0 as the graph coordinated both x and y axes in the middle of the 1600s. Further, the British Mathematician, Issac Newton, and German Mathematician,  Gottfried Leibniz, made further contributions in the late 1600s. They used zero in Mathematician, known as calculus. Without the concept of zero, there is no use in Physics and Engineering.

So if zero is considered as a placeholder? How did other civilizations still calculate numbers but not use zero? One example is derived from China. In early China, a place would be left vacant to represent that nothing was there. 

It is also assumed that Mayan civilizations used the concept of zero as well. Aircraft from 360 BC states that Mayans could add numbers up to hundreds of millions. Even though the Maya used the concept of zero, the later civilizations did not use it. Therefore, the idea did not spread further.

Who Invented Zero Aryabhatta or Brahmagupta?

The number zero has been used as a placeholder since before Aryabhatta and Brahmagupta by the Greeks, Mayans, and Chinese throughout the world. Aryabhatta is credited to use zero in the decimal system whereas Brahmagupta is credited with the detailed property of zero such as subtracting a number from itself.

Did Aryabhatta Invented Zero?

Aryabhatta was known to develop zero. But he never used the digit in his book. In fact, Aryabhatta did not invent zero but came up with the concept of zero. The term zero means “nil” is considered both as a number and a concept. Although Aryabhatta never used the digit numerically, he used it as a placeholder for the power of tens. This implies that zero was a concept that Aryabhatta was well aware of. 

History of Zero In India By Aryabhatta

It is found that Aryabhatta invented zero. Aryabhatta was one of the renowned Mathematicians and Astronomers. He devised a number that had no zero as a positional system but used to represent space. There is evidence that the dot has been used in earlier manuscripts to represent a space in positional notation. He introduced the world to the digit “0” for which he became eternal. He used the digit zero for the first time to use the decimal system. It is found that he was aware of the concept and even used it in calculations. He certainly did not use the symbol but the French Mathematician George Ifrah proclaims that knowledge of zero was used in Aryabhatta’s place value system as a placeholder for the powers of 10 with null coefficients.

How Aryabhatta Invented Zero?

A French Mathematician, George Ifrah, stated that the concept of zero was first used by Aryabhatta in his place value system because the digits cannot be counted without the place value system or zero. Also, the calculations on cube root or square root cannot be done if the numbers are not arranged with respect to the place value system or zero. The concept of zero Aryabhatta is regarded as one of the greatest and best achievements of Indian Mathematics.

The rules for using zero were first introduced by Brahmagupta whereas in some places his rules differ from modern rules. The one rule among that is in dividing zero by zero, the result yields zero.