I have looked at several different articles/explanations but they either have contradictory statements or they use esoteric language that I cant wrap my head around. pls help
In: Mathematics
A number can be defined as a quantity or amount. If I have none of something, then the quantity (or number) that I have of it is zero.
From a programmer perspective zero is a number: for example if you have 1+0 the result will still be a number.
But if you have 1+NaN(not a number) the results will be NaN.
From a mathematical point of view 0 is also a number, because it respect all the requirements to be one.
You know exactly where to find 0, you can use 0 in operations and 0 is a valid result.
But let’s think that 0 is not a number for a second.
If you have the equation x=1-1
I would say that x=0 but if 0 is just the absence of a number, I should probably say that x does not have a value
Yes, zero is a number.
First, you have to consider the definition of “number.” In the mathematical sense, numbers are “objects” (fancy way of saying they’re things, just like a fish is a noun-thing and a cloud is a noun-thing). Number-things are just abstract is all, like the concept of “love” is a abstract thing. And number-things represent amounts, quantity, size, etc.
So if you have three dots (. . .) or three m’s (m m m), the “threeness” is the same between them. Three is a thing independent of the m’s and dots.
Zero fits into this idea just fine. It’s the absence of dots ( ) and the absence of m’s ( ). The “zeroness” is the same regardless of what we are talking about. It is still a number. Maybe a special number, but so is pi (it is irrational, not a counting number, etc).
0 is a numeral. It denotes in the number it is part of that there is nothing in its place.
For example. The number 40. 4 in that is a numeral denoting that there are four lots of tens and 0 in that is a numeral denoting that there are zero lots of ones.
So, in the number 0 the numeral 0 denotes that there are zero lots of ones.
Zero is definitely a number.
When you’re measuring or counting something, zero represents the absence of that thing – but that doesn’t mean that zero itself isn’t a number, it’s actually a very important number!
Almost all of the math we learn in school and use in everyday life and also in banking, science, engineering, and elsewhere all depends on there being a number zero to work with.
Yes it’s a number. -1 is a number as well. Pi is also a number. I’m not sure how anyone would argue that it isn’t a number. It is just the absence of whatever someone may be counting.
0 is as much of a number as any other number. Whether numbers exist or not is a philosophical question. Depending on how you view numbers, one might say that some numbers exist but that 0 doesn’t. But it doesn’t really matter if it exists or not, it’s still a number, and a very useful one at that.
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It kind of depends.
As far as a computer is concerned it’s typically two different things. 0 can be a number, or there can be nothing.
The most obvious example is in excel. You can have an empty cell. Make a formula referencing that cell trying to add it and it wl treat it as 0, make one looking for text and it will treat it as “” (blank). But that’s only because excel knows this nuance, try and get more complicated formulas that reference different formulas and it will very quickly through an error at you because it doesn’t know what it’s looking at.
Outside of programming/computers I can’t think of an example where it would matter outside of a philosophical debate
There is a small arguement that saying 0 in a scientific sense implies some kind of accuracy: generally it would be 0.0 implying that there can’t be more than 0.04. but if you say “nothing” that means absolute 0.
That’s a very niche scenario though.
zero is a number representing a value of nothing. It in itself is not the absence of a number. If numbers are a roll of toilet paper zero is a roll with no paper on it. The roll is still there, you can clearly see that it is a roll hanging from the wall, but there is no paper on the roll. That is zero: A number who is there to indicate no value.
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