Digit that means nothing

The introduction of the zero to the European mathematics was an essential contribution to modern technological development. The concept of symbolically representing "nothing" in a numerical system is considered to be one of man's greatest intellectual achievements.

Various peoples throughout the world have used systems of counting without having the zero. The classical Greeks used different letters of their alphabet to denote numbers from 1 to 10 and each of the multiples of 10. Any number not represented by a s symbol was expressed by the sum of the values of severs For example, the number 238 was indicated by writing symbols for 200, 30 and 8 adjacent to each other.

The Romans used fewer symbols to represent a more limited number of integers such as 1,5,10,50,100,500,1000 and the additive principle to a greater degree. Thus, in writing the number 238 nine individual symbols were required: CCXXXVIII

The zero of modern civilization had its origin in India A.D. By 800 A.D. its use had been introduced to Baghdad, from where it spread throughout the Moslem world. The zero with the rest of our "Arabic" numbers was known in Europe by the year of 1000 A.D., but because of the strong tradition of Roman numbers, there was considerable resistance to its adoption. The zero became generally used in Western Europe only in the ХIV century.

Including the Hindu the concept of the zero with its idea of positional value appears to have been independently arrived at in three great cultures which were widely separated in space and time. About 500 B.C. the Babylonians began to use a symbol to represent a vacant space in their positional value numbers. However, before the idea could be disseminated to other areas, its use apparently died out about 2000 years ago along with the culture that gave it birth.

The Mayas of Central America began using the zero beginning of the Christian era. They have been in possess zero for about a thousand years longer than the Spaniard general, the Mayas were more advanced in many as mathematics than their conquerors.

Modern civilization derives incalculable practical and theoretical benefits from the use of zero.

VII. Translate the text in written form synoptically.