
Did you know zero wasn't always zero?
Image: Israel Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Did you know zero wasn't always zero?
Imagine you're counting apples in a basket. You start with one apple and add another. Then you take away one apple. How many apples are left?
Zero is the idea of "nothing" or "no amount." It's like having an empty basket after taking away all the apples you added. The technical term for this is "zero."
Example
You had 2 apples, added 2 more, and then took away 2. You end up with 0 apples.
Remember this
Zero represents the absence of quantity, making it fundamental in mathematics.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Number
Ever wondered why some numbers are special?
0
How do we count nothing?
Quantum mechanics
Ever wondered how tiny particles behave differently than big objects?
History of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system
Why did ancient scholars invent a new way to count?
History of electromagnetic theory
Did Einstein revolutionize our understanding of gravity?
Glossary of physics
Ever wondered how scientists track the spread of diseases?
Swipe through more Discover concepts
Open Pocket Polymath