Mathematicians are a curious lot. History hasn't changed that much, but the concept of the number 0 was not easily understood! In fact, many more complex mathematical ideas were understood long before it was understood that 0 was an actual real number, and much more than a place holder! Here are a few examples of those.
1.) They knew that the square root of 2 could not be written as the ratio of integers. It was the un ratio so to speak, or what we would call today an irrational number.
2.) They knew what a prime number was, and that for any number chosen you could find a number of primes larger than that number. Or what we would say today, they knew that there were an infinite number of primes!
3.) They knew out of all of the possible shapes of solids, that there were only 5 regular solids possible. They knew what they were and inscribed them in a circle! Namely the tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the icosahedron, and the dodecahedron!
All of these things today seem more complex than the number 0. However, we've been working with 0 and our complex number system since the day we were born, so hopefully we've got it by now! So, if you truly understand the concept of nothing as a number, then give yourself a pat on the back! Likely, you understand it better than most of the ancient mathematicians of our time!
1.) They knew that the square root of 2 could not be written as the ratio of integers. It was the un ratio so to speak, or what we would call today an irrational number.
2.) They knew what a prime number was, and that for any number chosen you could find a number of primes larger than that number. Or what we would say today, they knew that there were an infinite number of primes!
3.) They knew out of all of the possible shapes of solids, that there were only 5 regular solids possible. They knew what they were and inscribed them in a circle! Namely the tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the icosahedron, and the dodecahedron!
All of these things today seem more complex than the number 0. However, we've been working with 0 and our complex number system since the day we were born, so hopefully we've got it by now! So, if you truly understand the concept of nothing as a number, then give yourself a pat on the back! Likely, you understand it better than most of the ancient mathematicians of our time!