WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Zero Works 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.480 Hi there, how there, It's me Josh, your friend with 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.080 this week's edition of s Y s K Selects. And 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.400 for this week I've selected How Zero Works, a surprisingly 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.880 riveting episode about Zero. You know, Zero, made famous by 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.080 the phrase you better lose that zero and get yourself 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.600 a hero. Well, it turns out Zero is pretty great 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:29.920 in its own right. Just listen to this episode. Okay, enjoy. 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.880 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of My 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:41.800 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.360 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chub Bryant, and this 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.760 is a rare, unusual mathematical uh episode of the Stuff 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:52.959 you Should Know. Yes, And I'm just gonna step out 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.320 of the room and I'll be back in what minutes. 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:57.840 You to do this? This is not going to be 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.279 another Yo yo episode. Oh I just hate math. This 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.760 was this was This is not math heavy at all. 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.400 It's about the history of Zero. It's about the weirdness 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.200 of Zero, my hero Zero. Exactly until you came a 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.360 people counted on their fingers and toes. I posted that 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.400 to down Facebook. I don't know what that is. The 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.280 Schoolhouse rock, I don't know he ro Zero. I don't 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.840 remember that one until you came along. Keep going it 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.759 on her fingers and toes. It's basically you would appreciate 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:31.680 it because it sings what you wrote. Oh, that's great 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.160 in a much more basic way. But basically trying to 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.000 teach kids how amazing zero is, and don't discount it 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:42.000 as just it's a number. It's not the absence of something. Well, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.480 there's a lot, there's a bunch to it. It's many, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:52.960 many things. It's a multifaceted uh number, not the multifaceted entity. Well, 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.120 nol is German for zero. Did you know that bub 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:03.000 kiss is I believe Spanish for zero zilch silch is cajun. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:08.880 I did actually get a little etymology research. Originally sanscrit 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.600 was sonya, which meant empty. Then later Arabriic was sepia 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.120 or nothing, then Italian was sapio, and then finally French 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.200 gave us zero, right, and it wasn't you know we 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.240 represent zero as something that looks confusingly like an oh 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.639 yeah right. That was the Europeans who did that. Prior 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.120 to that, the Arabs and I believe the Indians too, 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:38.919 um represented zero with a heavy dot. You know where 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:43.120 that might have come from Robert Kaplan's book The Nothing 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.880 That Is a Natural History of Zero. He speculates that 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.520 the shape comes from the round depression left in the 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.639 sand a sand counting board once you remove a stone 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.960 from it, sence would be a round thing, That's what 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.560 he he thinks, he speculates. But that wouldn't have haven't 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.320 have been the Europeans. It was the Europeans that came 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.040 up with that. Well no, but you said, uh like 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.480 a heavy dot. Yeah, heavy do could be the depression 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.640 where a stone was insane. That's a good one. Who 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:20.760 was that, Robert Kaplan? Thanks? Mr Kaplan. Um, well, I 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.960 guess I feel like we've kind of done a pretty 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.200 good set up here, Chuck. We've talked about how zero 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:30.200 is multifaceted, um, and you we talked about the Arabs 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.800 and the Indians, right yeah, um, And we have to 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:40.480 go back even further. Two first find when Zero made 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.160 itself known? Should we get the way back machine? Let's 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:49.240 I think, let's blow the dust off of this thing. Sorry, wow, 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:51.640 that was right at you. I think this thing still works. 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.120 Let's find out you're ready? Yeah, hey, look at their 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:02.440 wow lit up like a flex capacitor. Is nice. Um, 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.200 we're back in ancient Sumer and these baked clay tablets 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:11.440 haven't even been baked yet. They're still wet. Look, wow 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.800 was here? Um so Chuck. If you'll look at this 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:20.520 clay tablet, do you see these two U diagonal lines, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:26.760 there's little wedges. Yeah, those, my friend, represent nothing really, 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.400 And the reason they're there is because round about this 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.479 time somebody figured out they ran into a problem and 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.520 when they were making some sort of tax record or 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:42.800 grain inventory that um, you know, showing that basically writing 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.039 out three thousand lines for the three thousand heads of 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.000 cattle doesn't make any sense. But let's say you have, um, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.359 three hundred, you have three thousand heads of cattle, and 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.600 all you have are the ways to represent three hundred 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.120 heads of cattle. There's a big difference, right, there's an 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:04.119 extra digit in there, and that those two diagonal lines 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.000 were used to represent one of those digits when there 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.600 was not any digits there. But there's something to the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.200 left of it and something to the right of it, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.880 that's right. And Caplan also said that before that even 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.599 they just would leave a blank space sometimes before they 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.960 even came up with the little wedges, right, So what 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.039 what this is all based on is basically our numerical system, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.640 where if you look at a string of numbers right, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.320 starting from the right, you have the ones column, the 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:39.320 tens column, the hundreds, the thousands, the ten thousands, the 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.480 hundred thousands, and so on. You want me to keep 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.440 going ad infinitum um. And in each of these columns 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.080 there may or may not be numbers present. So when 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.360 there are numbers present, we have our friends zero to 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.599 serve as what's considered a place holder. Yeah. Makes I 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.800 mean it's very easy to just say, well, the now, 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:04.040 but way back then before there was a zero that 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.160 you know, we take it very much for granted. Yeah, 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.520 this is huge. That's changed everything, changed everything, um, all 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.440 of a sudden now because I mean we said there's 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.719 a big difference between three thousand head of cattle and 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.960 three head of cattle, and by putting a zero there 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:21.680 right saying this this column is represented, there's just not 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.400 any in here. You're not going to find the two 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:27.640 cattle that should be in this right, that changed everything. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.400 It changed everything. I mean there was frustrating before that, Yeah, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.400 like if only there was something to put there. Yeah, 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.440 And I guess when they like, just trust me, I 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.800 have two thousand cattle. And I guess when they left 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.520 the blank space that got confusing because they could have 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.800 thought it was an error. So they figured we have 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.760 to put something there so they know it's not just 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.040 an oversight, right exactly. And that's the diagonal lines. Well 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:55.320 in this, uh, I think before it even became that standardized, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.600 it was they used different things. Because they found a 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.279 tablet from seven BC and a dude to use three 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.840 little hooks to represent zero. Well that would have been 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.560 after that, because the Sumerians were doing this like five 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.920 thousand years ago. Well, it's probably hard to get the 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.960 word around, right, you know, three hooks? What is this crowd? Exactly? Um. 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.440 So the Sumerians are the first documented to to come 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.080 up or stumble upon zero as a placeholder, and then 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.120 it was um codified with the invention of the abbacus, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:30.080 which uses you know, our numerical column system, right we 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.600 used today, um, which was invented by the Babylonians about 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:38.480 three hundred BC. Wow, right, smart folks back then, So 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.760 we have zero as a placeholder. We have this understanding 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.000 now that there's there's something out there, like we can 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:49.160 represent nothingness, but It wasn't until um, the fifth century 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:53.040 a d in India where zero first comes about as 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:57.360 a concept as a number, which is equally groundbreaking. Yeah. Well, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.800 this nothingness, we should point out, was not something that 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:04.120 people were comfortable with back then. True, oddly now it 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.840 seems odd, but to have something representing nothing made people 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.600 very uncomfortable. It was associated with chaos and the great 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.520 void and even the sign of the devil. Yes, it was. Well. 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:21.320 I mean that if you look at the Christian theology, um, 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.880 the void, which is represented by zero or nothingness, was 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.960 the state of the universe before the creation of man. Humans. 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.920 Uh seeks feel the same way too, although I don't 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.760 know how they felt about zero, but that was there there. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.760 That's their conception as well. There was nothing, there's void, um. 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.280 And then also void fits well with chaos, which is 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.240 the Christian conception of hell, right, like no one's in charge, right. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.400 So yeah, it was avoided. I don't know. I went 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.079 back and look, Chuck after I wrote this article, Um, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.079 when we were studying today, I went back and looked, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.959 and I didn't find a lot of support for that, 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.959 didn't I did see that like the during the Dark Ages, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.000 monks kind of were Probably they feared zero. Well Kaplan 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.200 mentioned it in his book, so, but I mean it 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.000 was out there, but there's no well these people did this. 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.360 They killed this guy for saying the word zero. There 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.079 was nothing like that out there. I think. More more 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.760 to the point, it was the Romans who just didn't 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:25.040 use zero, and the West was built by Rome and 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:30.080 um that's I think where the shunning of zero came from, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.560 not necessarily from fear, but just because the Roman numeral 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.080 system doesn't have zero. Yeah. I found where. They flirted 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.360 with it at first, with nulla in U l l A, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.360 which they would represent with a little inn, but it 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.800 clearly didn't take. No, they said it, We're not gonna 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.240 use it as zero. No, why would we ever need zero? 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.520 We don't need it as zero? Right did they talk 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.040 like that back then too? Yeah, like Vinny from Brooklyn, Sure, 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:25.760 I think so. Uh So where are we in India? Yeah, 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.560 we're in the fifth century a d in India and 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:36.160 a guy named um Ariba is possibly the person who 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.440 invented zero really possible or discovered as you like to say, 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.480 thank you, yes, thank you for correcting me with my 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:48.520 own words. That's when they are your articles. So UM, 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.160 it is pretty pretty much universally accepted that zero was 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:59.079 created or discovered in India, and then it spread pretty 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:05.839 quickly over for UM two UH Islamic nations, Arab nations, UM, 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.400 and the It was the Arabs who taught a guy 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:15.920 named Fibonacci Leonardo Pizza, who was a great mathematician of 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.040 the West in the I think the twelfth century or 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.440 the thirteenth century. You know, people are gonna say, do 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.480 the Fibonacci number. Go ahead, Well, no, no, no, people 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.680 are gonna ask for that podcast. In fact, they've already 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:30.640 been asking for that podcast. Do you want to do 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:35.480 that one? Do you want to maybe? Probably not? Well, 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.800 Fibonacci was um, the son of a customs officer in Algeria, Chuck, 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.960 and he had Arabic tutors, and they said, hey, kid, 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.880 we're gonna teach you how to really do math. Because 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.920 by this time, by the I think the twelve hundreds 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.040 UM or the eleven hundreds of the Salt century, UH, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.200 the Arabs were very well versed in mathematics and the 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:02.559 West was still just complete idiots. Fortunately, Fibonacci was over 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.640 there getting tutored and he figured out, wow, this is 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:10.240 really really important, and introduced our Arabic numeral system which 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.160 we used today, uh, to the West through a book. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.120 So you said he wrote a book. Did he write 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.920 the book? No, he wasn't the only one. Okay, No, 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.160 that's not true for the West. Yes, he wrote the book, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.760 and then other people wrote treatises on his book. So 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.320 he pretty much said the basis. Yes, okay, he was 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:32.800 the fulcrum, the hinge between West and Middle East. A 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.760 zero is a fulcrum, Yes, it is interesting. Um. So 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.200 he was the one who introduced it to the West. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.760 But again, I mean we say that because we're Western writers, chuck. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.960 But it was very well established for hundreds of years 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.760 by the time Fibonaci heard about zero. Yeah. And you 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:54.240 also point out interestingly that simultaneously and completely independently of India, uh, 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.400 in Central America, the Maya were also uh beginning or 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.760 already using zero yeah to uh, mainly for their calendar. Right. Yeah, 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.280 it was there. It was the base of counting um, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.840 which makes sense. It totally makes sense, and it makes 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.600 for a more accurate calendar. Right. So like for mine calendars, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:14.720 like the day of the month would be zero day, 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.240 then one day than two day, than three day and 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.400 so on. How would you say that though, because you 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.400 say first, second third, how would you say they had um? 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:27.160 They had different names for today, like Zula would be 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.920 zul or you know, mon or something like that. It 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.319 was like the rather than first second third. They didn't 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.320 have numerals like that, like first second third that's Arabic. 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.760 So to the Maya, it was like zul day. Didn't 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.280 that Ghostbusters? I think so? But that was what Sumerian. 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.760 Oh yeah, zul was Sumerians all coming together. Um. So 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.400 that does make for a lot more accurate counting UM. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.640 And that's one of the big flaws in our calendar, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.640 the Gregorian calendar, is that there is no zero year. 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.920 Well and we all got that pointed out to us 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.120 quite uh through the through the media, especially when the 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.920 millennium turned. Because there's no year zero, our decades and 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.319 our centuries and our millennia um actually occur at the 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.719 end of that year and at the beginning, Like when 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.959 the clock struck midnight at two thousand and we all went, yeah, 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.160 new millennium, not so we still had a year left, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.480 that's right. Have we started counting from zero then? Yeah? 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.840 In January first two thousand that would have been the 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.000 start of the new millennium. But the the we started 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:34.640 counting from one so one to two thousand years rather 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:36.880 than two thousand years. And there was one guy in 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.840 every bar trying to point out to as many people 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.680 as he could do you realize it's not even true, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.800 and he's like, why isn't anyone buying me drinks? So 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.240 why did? Why are they going to beat me up? Um? 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.760 And I put a little a little notation in there 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.479 because I have trouble wrapping my head around that sometimes. 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.640 But the point is is there's ten single digit numbers 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:06.120 in the Arabic numerical system that we use, and at 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.600 zero through nine, anything beyond that isn't in the tens 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.280 columner above, and thanks to zero, we have a ten 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:20.360 column exactly. Take a chuck. Uh. Well, Western astronomers they 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.560 came up with a system late seventeenth and early eighteenth 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.520 century that designated calendar year one b C is zero 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.720 and then basically anything above or below that would either 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.720 be plus or minus so a B C or a 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.920 D right, so uh two a D would be minus 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.760 one or no two BC would be minus one bc. Yes, 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.640 since we're not living in a d They just kind 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.600 of screwed with the BC a little bit. So right 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:51.200 now we're in plus two thousand twelve. Yes, which also 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.080 makes I mean, it's not just calendars. I mean zero 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.000 lies between negative one and one and serves as a 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:03.240 full corum point for basically all numbering. Yeah, positive and negative. 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.280 And that was Jacques Cassini who came up with that, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.840 um astronomical calendar. What the Italians are all up on 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.480 this stuff, weren't they. Yeah, it'soking to be French, but 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.840 yeah it is an Italian. Yeah, who knows, maybe he's 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.480 Northern Italian. Yeah, exactly. Um, but yeah, so they he 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.920 basically said, well, wait, why don't we just choose one 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.400 year to be zero, and then we'll just basically make it. 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.600 We'll make the calendar based on zero's rightful place in numbering, 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.960 which is precisely between one in negative one. There's a 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.520 zero there. It doesn't just go from negative one to one. 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.160 Zero is, like you said, the full crumb of all numbers. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.880 It spreads out infinitely on either side. So it's not 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.080 positive and it's not negative, and um, so it's the 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.640 only number that is non positive and non negative. But 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.320 it's neither a positive number nor a negative number. Wrap 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.040 your head around that one. Yeah, you college students sitting 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.920 around here at midnight, just gaze up at the stars 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.800 and try and figure that out. Start counting, Start counting. 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.440 It's also an integer whole number, right, Yes, and h 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.919 is very handy when it comes up to ratios and fractions, 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.480 because a fraction can be written in a couple of ways, 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.120 either with the one on top of the other or 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.560 with a little decimal point. Yes, and without those zeros, 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.000 you wouldn't be able to do that. No, So this 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.679 decimal system, um, basically you can look at it as 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:29.600 anything to the right of the decimal So that tends 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:34.440 the hundreds, the thousands, right, the th ten, hundreds about 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.760 thank you. Yeah, you're getting as bad as um. They 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.879 those are all encapsulated in that zero that's up to 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.960 positive one, right, yeah, because it's less than a whole one. 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.080 But it's not so much that it's negative one, right, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.520 it's encapsulated by that zero. So all of these ratios, 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:57.439 all of the decimal system, gives us these incredibly precise numbers. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.800 Whereas we can count in whole numbers to the right 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.959 of zero in positive whole numbers that just goes on 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.360 and on and on and measures the vastness of the universe. 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.720 To go the other way, to go in this infinite 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.879 decimal system that's encapsulated within zero, lets you measure the 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.479 infantismal right, Yeah, so it's not like, oh it's between 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.240 two and three, right, I mean, try making like high 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.920 quality machine parts using whole numbers. You can't know, it 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.879 can't be done. So there's all sorts of things that 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.720 would have never taken place. Head zero not given rise 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.760 to the decimal system, or everything would be really big. Yeah, 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:34.639 you know, everything would be like twice as large, Like 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:36.760 the ten thousand year clock wouldn't even work. Remember they 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:41.640 were using like fractions of an inch that still wouldn't work. Um, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.399 what else, Chuck, Well, you point out very astute lee 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.160 some odd properties of zero, and they are actually called 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.760 the properties of zero because it's such a weird number 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.000 that you have to have properties to explain it exactly. 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.879 So the which is the first one called, is the 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:03.160 additive property of zero row addition property. Yeah, add zero 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.240 to anything and you're gonna get that same thing. That 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.440 sounds very basic. Same with subtracting. Sure, five plus zeros five. 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.800 Zero is five, right, and it is very basic. But 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.800 zero is the only number that doesn't affect another number 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.000 when it's added or subtracted to it, which is important. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.280 It is anytime a number is the only thing of 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.800 its kind, it's worth mentioning. Like pie. There's um, which 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.000 by the way, wouldn't exist without zero in the decimal system, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.600 or any of those wouldn't exist. To us. Um, there's 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:39.280 the additive inverse property of zero, where any numbers that 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.160 add up to zero are additive inverses of one another. 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:48.440 So negative five plus positive five, or just five as 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.920 they call it in positive land, equal zero. So negative 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:55.439 five and five are additive inverses of one another. Multiplying 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.480 from the time you're I think I learned in the 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.959 second grade my multiplication tables, if I remember correctly, Ms. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:06.200 Anderson and Ms. Temple, thank you very much. Uh. They 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.399 taught me that if you multiply any number by zero, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.600 you're going to get zero. And as you point out, 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.600 that multiplication is really just a quicker way of adding things. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:21.480 It's a shortcut. Yeah, it's a shortcut. So uh. The 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.080 idea that a number can be added zero times uh, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.960 or that zero can be added to itself. That's when 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.920 I get the most. Yeah, it's just doesn't make any sense. 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.040 Like you like five times zero doesn't mean zero place 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.440 zero place ero place zero place ero, that doesn't mean 0:20:36.480 --> 0:21:09.159 anything zero. Yeah, right, what about dividing by zero? Let 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.880 me ask you? No, let me This is the part 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.040 where I was like, nobody understands this. I don't feel 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.000 very bad about this because no one really understands it. Um, 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.879 there's no So there's these other properties of zero that 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.080 cover like additive, inverse, addition, subtracting, multiplication. There is no 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:30.240 property that says why you can't divide by zero because 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.720 it's so nonsensical. It doesn't even exist. The concept of 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:38.199 dividing by zero doesn't really actually exist except in you know, 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.240 the imagination of people. I bet mathematicians have tried, though, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.960 like frustratingly tried. You can't. There's nothing you can do, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:51.360 and they don't even fully understand why. But the um. 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:54.720 The best explanation that I saw was that it has 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.560 to do kind of with the multiplication property right to 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.200 where if you divide something, so like six divided by 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.760 two equals three, So if you can divide a number, Um, 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:09.520 the result of that number by the divisor so in 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:13.359 this case, three and two multiplied by one another should 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:16.560 equal the dividend, which is six. Now if you divide 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:21.200 six by zero, right, it doesn't equal anything. It should 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.600 equal zero. If you multiply it, it's not gonna equal 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:29.000 to Uh. That's the best example I could come up with. Yeah, 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.360 that makes sense, so it shouldn't. Well, I mean, you're 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.679 completely insane. It makes sense that it doesn't make sense. Okay, 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:37.880 that's what I'm saying. And Stephen right head a joke. 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.000 He said that black holes are where God tried to 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:50.040 divide by zero. Wo. Like, that's good, Steven right his Uh, 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.520 I still did that his one bit Sometimes when um, 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.480 people get in a car with me, I say, hey, 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.080 put your seat belt on. I want to try something. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:22:59.600 That was one of his jokes. He's like, just try 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.840 that when the someone gets in a car, he's good. Um. 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.240 And then also there's the property of zero exponent, which 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:07.679 also doesn't make any sense. Chuck, there's um you know, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.880 there's negative exponents, like numbers to the negative power tend 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.399 to the negative five. Yes, because of this, mathematically it 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.800 works out, but I don't understand it. UM numbers to 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.800 the zero power equal one. That doesn't make any sense 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:25.160 because zero multiplied by something should equal zero, not one. 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.520 That's how it works out, though, magical mysterious number at 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:33.320 my hero zero and I ran across one other thing 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.679 that I thought was pretty cool. Um. The the the 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:43.159 evidence of UM Islamic countries comfort with zero concept and 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:46.600 Western countries discomfort with it can be found still today 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:51.359 on elevators in countries where the Ottoman Turks or UM 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:55.639 any other Islamic nation UM conquered and ruled for a while, 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:58.480 you're still going to find evidence of a comfort with zero, 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:02.119 like in Hungary. If you look in Spain. I here too, 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:05.399 if you look on an elevator, the ground floor is zero, 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:09.000 and any floor beneath that is a negative number, really 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:13.840 like the basement parking, like negative one, negative two. Huh 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:17.440 isn't that cool? And apparently that's because of the presence 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:20.040 of the Turks who were there for a while. Wow, yeah, 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:22.359 I mean they didn't have elevators then, but apparently, like 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.679 the that's like, you don't see a floor zero in 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.600 the West, No, you don't. We just don't like zero 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:31.800 that much or a fourth thirteen, all right, although it 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:35.080 is thirteen. We've had that talk before. I think, yeah, 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:37.280 what do we have here? P? One, P two in 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:41.320 our building? Definitely not negative. Let's say that from now on, 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:43.320 like what love you parked on? I'm on negative four, 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:46.720 I will say that. I will say that right now, 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:51.159 I'm on negative three. I'm on negative two. Go and 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:56.040 chuck um. And also, let's see you can type zero. 0:24:56.359 --> 0:24:58.960 You got anything else? You're just happy to be done 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:01.640 with this one? No, this was actually really good. Um, 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:04.359 I don't know about that. Zero is my hero a 0:25:04.440 --> 0:25:08.080 magic number. If you type in zero and this is 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:10.200