- published: 02 Dec 2012
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0 (zero; BrE: /ˈzɪərəʊ/, ZIRR-oh or AmE: /ˈziːroʊ/, ZEER-oh) is both a number and the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals. It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems. In the English language, 0 may be called zero, nought or (US) naught ( /ˈnɔːt/), nil, or "o" ( /ˈoʊ/). Informal or slang terms for zero include zilch and zip.Ought or aught ( /ˈɔːt/) have also been used historically. (See Names for the number 0 in English)
The word zero came via French zéro from Venetian zero, which (together with cypher) came via Italian zefiro from Arabic صفر, ṣafira = "it was empty", ṣifr = "zero", "nothing". This was a translation of the Sanskrit word shoonya (śūnya), meaning "empty".
By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the Babylonian mathematics had a sophisticated sexagesimal positional numeral system. The lack of a positional value (or zero) was indicated by a space between sexagesimal numerals. By 300 BC, a punctuation symbol (two slanted wedges) was co-opted as a placeholder in the same Babylonian system. In a tablet unearthed at Kish (dating from about 700 BC), the scribe Bêl-bân-aplu wrote his zeros with three hooks, rather than two slanted wedges.
RADIO STATION | GENRE | LOCATION |
---|---|---|
Radio Zero | Varied,Experimental,College | Portugal |
Radio Zero 91.1 | Pop | Argentina |
Below Zero | Easy | USA |
Cryosleep - Zero Beat Guaranteed | Electronica | France |