Zero

zero, that number which, when added to any number, leaves the latter unchanged; its symbol is 0. The introduction of zero into the decimal system was the most significant achievement in the development of a number system in which calculation with large numbers was feasible. Without it, modern astronomy, physics, and chemistry would have been unthinkable as we know them. The lack of such a symbol was one of the serious drawbacks of Greek mathematics. Its existence in the West is probably due to the Arabs, who, having obtained it from the Hindus, passed it on to European mathematicians in the latter part of the Middle Ages. The Maya of Central America and probably the Babylonians also invented zero. With the extension of the number system to negative as well as positive numbers, zero became the name for that position on the scale of integers between −1 and +1. It is used in this sense in speaking of zero degrees on the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales; "absolute zero" is a term used by physicists and chemists to indicate the theoretically lowest possible temperature—a use reminiscent of zero as a symbol for nothing. Unlike other numbers, zero has certain special properties in connection with the four fundamental operations. By definition zero added to or subtracted from any number leaves the number unchanged. Any number multiplied by zero gives zero. Zero multiplied by or divided by any number (other than zero) is still zero. But division by zero is undefined; i.e., there is no number that is the value of a number divided by zero.

Bibliography

See C. Seife, Zero (2000).

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zero

Number and numeral of critical importance in mathematics. Zero is known as the additive identity because adding it to any number does not change the number's identity, or value. The product of zero and any number is zero; for most number systems the converse is true—that is, if the product of two numbers is zero, at least one of them must equal zero. The latter property is fundamental to the solution of nearly every problem in mathematics. Division by zero is undefined; efforts to deal with such divisions led to calculus. Various punctuation marks were first used in Mesopotamia beginning about 700 BC to indicate an empty space in positional notation, but never at the end of a number—the difference between, say, 78 and 780 had to be understood from the context. Ptolemy first used 0, or the Greek letter omicron “ο,” as an empty placeholder, including at the end of a number, to express data in the Babylonian sexagesimal system in his astronomical treatise Almagest (c. 130 AD). The Hindu-Arabic numerals and treatment of zero as a number developed between the 6th and 9th centuries in India. Zero soon followed trade routes to China, the Islamic world, and Europe.

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Zero

 in full Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Japanese fighter aircraft of World War II. A single-seat, low-wing monoplane made by Mitsubishi, it was introduced in 1940, the 2,600th anniversary of the crowning of Japan's legendary first emperor, Jimmu, and named for the “zero-year” celebration. It had a top speed of 350 mph (565 kph) at nearly 20,000 ft (6,000 m). When it first appeared, it could outmaneuver every plane it encountered; Allied fighters could not defeat it until 1943. Many Zeros became kamikaze craft in the war's closing months.

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Zero

army private whose name and IQ are almost equivalent. [Comics: “Beetle Bailey” in Horn, 105–106]

See : Dimwittedness

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1.	(language)	ZERO - An object oriented extension of Z. ["Object Orientation in Z", S. Stepney et al eds, Springer 1992].
2.		zero - 1. 0, ASCI character 48. Numeric zero, as opposed to the letter "O" (the 15th letter of the English alphabet). In their unmodified forms they look a lot alike, and various kluges invented to make them visually distinct have compounded the confusion. If your zero is centre-dotted and letter-O is not, or if letter-O looks almost rectangular but zero looks more like an American football stood on end (or the reverse), you're probably looking at a modern character display (though the dotted zero seems to have originated as an option on IBM 3270 controllers). If your zero is slashed but letter-O is not, you're probably looking at an old-style ASCII graphic set descended from the default typewheel on the venerable ASR-33 Teletype (Scandinavians, for whom slashed-O is a letter, curse this arrangement). If letter-O has a slash across it and the zero does not, your display is tuned for a very old convention used at IBM and a few other early mainframe makers (Scandinavians curse *this* arrangement even more, because it means two of their letters collide). Some Burroughs/Unisys equipment displays a zero with a *reversed* slash. And yet another convention common on early line printers left zero unornamented but added a tail or hook to the letter-O so that it resembled an inverted Q or cursive capital letter-O.