Is Zero A Number..?

#11

^^^summed up quite nicely. As one who's gone thru Calculus and delved into such things as Imaginary Numbers (don't ask, I don't remember) it's only "natural" for me to include zero as a number.

#12

Brahmagupta is the first person who wrote a treatise on zero: It is called the Brahmasphutasiddhanta

(Book of the Opening of the Universe)

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/hist ... gupta.html

his greatest mistake was his idea that zero divided by zero was zero.

His genuis should be evident in this text,..

A debt minus zero is a debt.
A fortune minus zero is a fortune.
Zero minus zero is a zero.
A debt subtracted from zero is a fortune.
A fortune subtracted from zero is a debt.
The product of zero multiplied by a debt or fortune is zero.
The product of zero multipliedby zero is zero.
The product or quotient of two fortunes is one fortune.
The product or quotient of two debts is one fortune.
The product or quotient of a debt and a fortune is a debt.
The product or quotient of a fortune and a debt is a debt.

Bot · #13

I believe 0 is a number, and I have 0 evidence to add because I think Stalkerboy summed it all up nicely. lol

#14

QUOTE(deepdiver32073)As one who's gone thru Calculus and delved into such things as Imaginary Numbers (don't ask, I don't remember) it's only "natural" for me to include zero as a number.

Yea, Calculus really had a difference in my thinking also. I really like what Stalk3r said.

#15

I believe 100% that 0 is a number.

If you want to go ahead and "specify" in details, that's when we can have an argument.

Example: Cotton, Nylon, Polyester, Leather, Wool, <- Those are ALL "materials" right? If you want to go ahead and break it down, we can say "light materials", "heavy materials", nylon can fall into light materials, leather could fall into heavy materials.

Same logic here with zero, to proof that zero is a number

How many type of NUMBERS do we have? Some I can remember: rational, irrational, integer, real, natural etc.
They are ALL numbers right?

Zero is an INTEGER, and what's the definition of an integer? "A NUMBER without a decimal (0, 1, 25, 173, 1032, etc.). Integer values can be less than, equal to, or greater than zero."

Again, a number + a number = a number, right? -4+4 = 0, 4-4 = 0, that proves zero as a number.
We can only say zero ISN'T a number if we actually specified the TYPE of number we were talking about. Zero isn't a real number, neither is it a natural, rational or irrational.

But the question is generic, and it asks "Is Zero a Number"? Of course it is!, because it falls in the category of an integer, and an integer is a number, get my point?

As you can see in that definition, zero doesn't have a decimal, therefore it's a NUMBER without a decimal, which proves it's a number.

As stalkerboy has said, if you are gonna specify what kind of number it is, then zero isn't a number in a few number types. But if we are gonna generalise it and just say "is it a number", hell yeah, it is a number!

Makes sense? That's all I can say, lol.

Zero gets my vote as a number.

#16

Habib, you include 0 in a set of integers, because integers include negative numbers...0 represents the point in which there is no positive or no negative in a given number set...It's the middle...I don't know why you are hung on the idea that all numbers that are integers are real... -5 is not a "real" number...You don't look at a table and say it has -5 legs...

0 denotes the lack of quanity, and was formally introduced as a place holder to numbers...0 itself has no value...Numbers have value...We have 1 forum, with 14,000 threads, and 500,000 posts...Those are numbers...

If 0 is a number, then so is infinity...0 is a lack of quantity, and infinity represents a limitless quantity...They can be used in epressions and understood, but that does not make them real...If so, then you may as well include alphabets as nuumbers, cause if I say a†™¢¢¬…¡¢‚¬Å¡‚² + b†™¢¢¬…¡¢‚¬Å¡‚² = c†™¢¢¬…¡¢‚¬Å¡‚², it is understood what I mean...

Zero is either a symbol or a placeholder...Commonly understood a a number, when in fact it really isn't... /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Numbers show quanity...The abscence of quantity can be displayed in a million ways..Nil, null...In math, it is commonly 0...So how can it be a number..?

A Number by definition:

Function: noun
: the number 1 or any number (as 3, 12, 432) obtained by adding 1 to it one or more times : a positive integer

0 is neither positive nor negative...Just like infinity...

I rest my case..?

#17

Then what's a negative number..? It's still a number..

#18

A negative number isn't a number, its an integer...

Numbers are always integers, but integers are not always numbers...

#19

Probably.. haha

#20

Zero is the point of origin. Where things start, and in the opposite direction, end.

+ve and -ve are the directions away from Zero.

Infinity leads up (or back around) to Zero.

An imaginary number is a REAL number, just not in the two dimensions X and Y. It is imaginary as it appears to exist on the origin, and at the origin, it is supposed to have no value, but DOES.
BECAUSE, it has a value away from Zero on the third dimension Z.

I suppose this could go off another tangent, saying that when things disappear (ie. at 0), they go to another dimension...........