How
Do You Write Zero in Roman Numerals?
The Romans had no symbol for zero. Their number system
was NOT based on place
value. If they wished to express the concept 'nothing' they
would use the word "nullus".
The
first evidence we have of the use of zero is in India. Indian
mathematicians were using zero in a place value system c.CD
to D CE (c.
= circa = around)
Zero
spread with trade along the Silk
Road to China & the Islamic world. The Arabic mathematician
Muhammad
Al-Khwarizmi introduced zero to Islamic world in the
DCCCs. He continued
to develop the number system throughout his life. To this
day our number system is referred to as the Hindu Arabic
system in honour of its inventors.
By
the twelfth century Arabic texts were being converted to
Latin by European scholars. Eventually an Italian mathematician
named Fibonacci
wrote a book called the Liber
Abaci where he began to convince people that the new
number system was superior to roman numerals.
The
invention of the printing press in the 1450s then meant
that the use of the Hindu Arabic number system became more
widespread.
Over
the coming centuries European powers conquered lands all
over the world and they took their number system with them.
This is why you use the numbers you use today.
