We take it for granted nowadays, but the concept of "zero" was something that had to be invented. As ancient cultures around the world developed different counting systems, they all came up with their ...

An understanding of numbers is often viewed as a distinctly human faculty—a hallmark of our intelligence that, along with language, sets us apart from all other animals. Practically every animal that ...

Detail of the Bakhshali manuscript, with a dot used in the bottom line, a placeholder that is recognized as the earliest zero symbol (courtesy Bodleian Libraries/ University of Oxford) Radiocarbon ...