TIME MAGAZINES 100 IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Mathematicians discover the power of zero

#40 (4-zero)

Zero-doesn't seem like much. But, when first introduced by the babylonians it revolutionized mathematics.It took this idea centuries to be accepted by the west, but by the ninth century, zero had also emerged in India. It flowed back west because by that time the arabs had invaded india, adopted the indian numeral system-now called arabic numerals-and introduced it to europe.

And with that, zero, and all of it's many possibilities, had finally arrived