Is zero a number or the absence of a number?

Question

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

Answer 1

Zero is a number. it has certain properties that may look trivial, but it is important that a number exists which has trivial properties.

There are mathematical structures that don’t have a zero, or have other properties you would not expect from zero. These are still important, but usually not associated with numbers.