--- title: "Who discovered the Zero?" description: "Who discovered the Zero?" author: "Ahana Das" published: 2018-01-19 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/33314/who-discovered-the-zero category: "history, politics & society" tags: ["history", "discovered the zero"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Who discovered the Zero? Who discovered the Zero? ## Answers ### Answer by Stuti Gupta The number zero was first used as a filler in a record. Many cultures across the world, including the Egyptians and the Sumerians, independently discovered zero. According to Harvard professor Robert Kaplan, a pair of angled wedges were used to create the first zero in Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. The Babylonians, who came after the Sumerians and the [Chinese](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94180/which-chinese-e-commerce-firm-has-become-the-top-sponsor-of-the-olympic-games-through-2028), were among the later civilizations. However, it was only used as a placeholder in these two civilizations, as a method to distinguish ten from one hundred or to denote an empty column in the case of hundreds and thousands. There is no way to offer legitimate credit for the discovery of zero to any civilization. \ The Babylonian notion of zero is thought to have made its way to India, where it was transformed into a number. [Mathematics](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/72345/what-will-be-the-simple-interest-on-an-amount-of-rs-2000-in-3-years-at-interest-4-per-annum) was primarily associated with astronomy in ancient India, and it was utilized to communicate philosophical notions. \ Project [Zero](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49249/when-and-who-invented-the-zero-in-number-system) is an academic and graduate student-run organization that researches the development of zero in India.'The Zero Project hypothesises that arithmetic zero ('shunya' in Sanskrit) sprang from the modern idea of void or Shunyata,' as per Gobets. According to van der Hoek, if philosophical and cultural characteristics present in India were crucial in the creation of zero as a mathematical notion, it would illustrate why other cultures did not. --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/33314/who-discovered-the-zero Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.