What if the numerical system we use currently not had the zero number (0)?
It may seem like a completely crazy idea, but the mathematician James Foster It proposed exactly that in 1947. In its reimagined system, the numbers work like ours, with a slight difference: there is no zero.
Imagine our decimal system, where digits represent boxes for objects. In our current system, when we reached 10 objects, we used a zero to denote the absence of objects in the unit’s “box”, and pass to the next box, the tens. Foster’s system asks us not to do it, or at least, to postpone the placement of objects in the boxes.
In Foster’s model, the 10 becomes “t”with numbers such as 20 written as 1T, which means a senior dozen, one more loose dozen. That is, it is never necessary zero. For example, 30 becomes 2T and 106 in this system to become T6, while we imagine, number 3,090 is written as 2T8T.
Although this system is not zero, it is logically correct – numbers with zeros simply take on new forms.
A world without zero
We already know that a world without zeros is possible.
In fact, zero did not exist for centuries, as well as there was no idea of ”nothing” in various human societies. The first known appearance of zero dates back to the 3rd or IV century in the Indian subcontinent – long after Babylonical merchants of Mesopotamia have recorded in clay plates an elemental version of the concept of zero, with a reserve digit, squeezed among others, to distinguish numbers like 50, 505 and 5,005.
In India, the concept of “shunya“Which means nothing, it was adopted not only as an abstract idea but also as a functional numerical symbol. Brahmagupt Indian astronomer is attributed to the formalization of the use of scratch for mathematical calculations, allowing it to be added, subtracted and multiplied like any other number. Although Zero’s division was still a challenge, these early advances launched the foundations for future discoveries in mathematics, explains mathematics Hannah Fry to Radio 4.
“Zero is, for many mathematicians, definitely considered one of the greatest – or perhaps the greatest – made of humanity,” said neuroscientist Andreas Nieder quoted by.
But “the difficulty was not to find out zero,” as author Richard Urwin explains. It was important, yes, “the notation of the positional value:“ It was the zero involved when written ’10’ that constituted the quantum leap, ”he explains.
“What does zero mean? Absolutely nothing; It is just a reserved space and yet transforms one of one thing into ten things. It seems strange to us now, but it took a long time for the so-called Arabic numerals (in fact, they were invented in India and only reached us through the Arab world) were considered reliable in Europe, ”.
“If zero had not been invented, we would still be using Roman notation, as we did before the introduction of Arab numerals. And we would continue to give our children the same advice: “If you just need to learn addition and subtraction, a German university is sufficient, but if you need to do multiplications and divisions, you have to go to Italy.” If you don’t believe it’s that bad, try to multiply VII by VI without moving to Arabic notation, ”the author also suggests.
From birthdays to salaries, much would change. A great example of something that would not exist are the computers As we know them, who only understand language of binary numbers, that is, ‘zeros’ and ‘some’. The same applies to electronic software and chips.
Like this, There would be no smartphones, digital clocks, television, portablenor anything that works with electronics – at least they would not exist as we know them today.
