0
Oh, dude, in the ancient Greek numeral system, they didn't have a symbol for zero like we do now. They were all about counting with letters, not numbers. So, yeah, zero was a big fat no-show in their math party. Like, imagine trying to balance your checkbook back then. Good luck with that!
Still curious? Ask our experts.
Chat with our AI personalities
Ross
Fran
EzraOh, what a happy little question! In the ancient Greek numeral system, they didn't have a symbol for zero like we do today. They had a system based on letters of the alphabet to represent numbers, starting with 1 for the first letter, and so on. It's fascinating to see how different cultures have unique ways of counting and expressing numbers.
Well, honey, ancient Greeks were all about their fancy symbols, but they didn't have time for zeros in their numeral system. They were too busy inventing democracy and philosophy to bother with a big ol' goose egg. So, in short, nope, no zeros for the ancient Greeks - they kept it simple and to the point.
There was no need for a zero in their system. We have 9 numbers plus the zero symbol. We add a zero on to the end of a number to convert it to tens and two zeros to convert it to hundreds and so on. The Romans simply had different symbols for tens and hundreds. For example we would write 1, 10, 20, 40, 50, 100 and 200 but the same numbers as Roman numerals would be I, X, XX, XL, L, C and CC, done quite simply with no need for a zero. In the middle ages monks, who still used Roman numerals and wrote in Latin, began to used the symbol N to represent zero (from the Latin Nullae meaning nothing).
In general, the number zero did not have its own Roman numeral, but a primitive form (nulla) was known by medieval computists (responsible for calculating the date of Easter). They included zero (via the Latin word nulla meaning "none") as one of nineteen epacts, or the age of the moon on March 22. The first three epacts were nullae, xi, and xxii (written in minuscule or lower case). The first known computist to use zero was Dionysius Exiguus in 525. Only one instance of a Roman numeral for zero is known. About 725, Bede or one of his colleagues used the letter N, the initial of nullae, in a table of epacts, all written in Roman numerals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What represented zero in ancient Chinese numerals?
There was no zero in ancient Chinese numerals. The ancient Chinese number system was not a positional system, so there was no need for a zero.
What are the weaknesses of the Egyptian numeral system?
there is difficulty in the mathematical opperations there is no zero
Did Romans have a symball for zero?
Yes the Romans did have a symbol for zero and it looked like the letter N but they didn't need it in their numeral system for positional place value purposes because the positional place value of Roman numerals are self evident.
Why roman system is not a place value system?
Because they didn't create it that way. There is no real reason they need one. I guess they decided they didn't want one or didn't think about that idea yet. There is no place value system in roman numerals because they had numeral for zero.
In ancient times was the zero important?
Zero was not in use in ancient times. It was not introduced into Europe until the 12th century and then it came from Arabia.
