Zero: A None Number?

Abstract

In his book The Mathematical Brain, Brian Butterworth (1999) claims that one of the most important abilities modern man possesses is the ability to use numbers. Butterworth argues that this ability has “raised us from cave-dwellers using stone tools to creators of great cities and modern science” (p. 1). In the history of the development of our decimal number system, the introduction of zero was the most significant achievement—an achievement that enabled calculation with greater numbers to become commonplace. Although we use the symbol 0 constantly, many misconceptions abound, and the placement of zero in school curricula mirrors the somewhat meandering pathway of its development.