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What is certain is that by around 650AD the use of zero as a number
came into Indian mathematics. The Indians also used a place-value
system and zero was used to denote an empty place. In fact there is
evidence of an empty place holder in positional numbers from as early
as 200AD in India but some historians dismiss these as later
forgeries. Let us examine this latter use first since it continues the
development described above.

In around 500AD Aryabhata devised a number system which has no zero
yet was a positional system. He used the word "kha" for position and
it would be used later as the name for zero. There is evidence that a
dot had been used in earlier Indian manuscripts to denote an empty
place in positional notation. It is interesting that the same
documents sometimes also used a dot to denote an unknown where we
might use x. Later Indian mathematicians had names for zero in
positional numbers yet had no symbol for it. The first record of the
Indian use of zero which is dated and agreed by all to be genuine was
written in 876.

Perhaps we should note at this point that there was another
civilisation which developed a place-value number system with a zero.
This was the Maya people who lived in central America, occupying the
area which today is southern Mexico, Guatemala, and northern Belize.
This was an old civilisation but flourished particularly between 250
and 900. We know that by 665 they used a place-value number system to
base 20 with a symbol for zero. However their use of zero goes back
further than this and was in use before they introduced the
place-valued number system. This is a remarkable achievement but sadly
did not influence other peoples.

www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Zero.html

www.neatorama.com/2008/01/20/scientists-say-time-is-slowing-down/

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from VOL 1: Future Rapper and the Battles for Zero, released September 24, 2013

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