शुन्य्य (Zero)

Origin of Zero:

Was going thru a book wherein it was mentioned about the origin of Zero. Thought it worth sharing. The history goes like this:

Historians give complete credit to India for the invention of zero and its usage as number. (Looks like our guys have laid foundation for IT long back). Initially it was denoted as small circle. It was called SHUNYA which in Sanskrit means nothing. They say it came into existence around 458 AD. Historians also credits India for the introduction of Base 10 system for the calculations. Bramhaguptha described the concept of ZERO in his work 'Bramhagupta Siddhanth'

In 830 AD a arab mathematician Al Khwarizmi visited India and studied the India system. He popularized this system thru his works. He called shunya as Al saifar. ( Later Al saifar became Al Jabar and then algebra )

Then in 12th century it was taken to West and his works were translated to Latin. In latin al sifr became Zephyr and now it is called Zero.