1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here with a classic episode 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: from our Earth Boil host Christian Sager. This one concerns 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: that loneliest of numbers, not one, but zero. It's a 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: strange one, and it may be older than anyone thought, Hey, 6 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: brain Stuff. In mathematics, zero has two meetings. It can 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: mean nothing, I eat, I have zero dollars in my 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: bank account, or it can serve as a placeholder that's 9 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: part of a larger number, indicating that it is a 10 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: multiple of ten. As Robert Kaplan details in his book 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: The Nothing That Is a Natural History of Zero, about 12 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: five thousand years ago, the ancient Sumerians, who lived in 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: what is now a Rock came up with the basic 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: concept of zero as a placeholder instead of the zero 15 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: that we used today, though they drew complicated combinations of wedges, lines, 16 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: and space is in clay tablets to indicate it. Kaplan 17 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: explains that the concept was adopted by the Babylonians, who 18 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: passed it along by way of the ancient Greeks to India, 19 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: where Arab traders picked it up and eventually brought it 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: back to medieval Europe. Somewhere along the way, the wedges 21 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: that signified zero the placeholder evolved into a solid dot, 22 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: which was the precursor of the zero that we know today. 23 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: For a long time, it was believed that the earliest 24 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: example of that was an inscription on the wall of 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: a temple of Guali, or India, which dates back to 26 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: seventh century CE. But now researchers have found evidence of 27 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: an even earlier example. The Bakshali Manuscript, and Indian mathematical 28 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: text written on seventy pieces of birch bark, was discovered 29 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: back in one by someone digging in the soil in 30 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: the village of Bakshali in what is now Pakistan. The 31 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: exact age of the manuscript has long been a subject 32 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: of controversy, but the most authoritative answer to date, based 33 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: on an analysis by Japanese scholar Toko Hayashi, seemed to 34 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: place it between seven hundred and eleven hundred CE. Recently, though, 35 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: the University of Oxford's Bodlian Libraries, which has possessed the 36 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: manuscript since nineteen o two, commissioned a carbon dating study 37 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: of it. The new study revealed that the manuscript actually 38 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: may date as far back as two hundred to three 39 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: hundred CE, making it the oldest example of the dot 40 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: that later evolved into zero now. According to Bodlian's press release, 41 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,119 Speaker 1: the concept of zero as a number in its own right, 42 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: one with a value of nothing, didn't come along until 43 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: several centuries after the Bakshali manuscript was written. It first 44 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: appears in a text by the Indian astronomer and mathematician 45 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: Drama Google. Today's episode was written by Patrick J. Keiger 46 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clang. For more 47 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: on this and a non zero number of other topics, 48 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is a production 49 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Or more podcasts from my heart Radio, 50 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 51 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.