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MEASUREMENT
Lesson 1 - Page 4

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Zero is odd because it is actually nothing, but then it is used as a placeholder.   If zero was nothing, than winning $1,000,000 would mean you won just $1.  Some cultures did not use zero as a numeral.  The Romans just used the word “empty” to refer to nothing.  So, Roman Numerals do not have a symbol that refers to zero as a number.   

Arabic

Babylonia

           China

Hindus
(India)

Mayan
(Central America)

Zero in different cultures

Many countries use the Arabic numerals to express integers.  Greek letters are internationally used for some irrational numbers.  The names of the numerals vary from country to country; some numbers even have special names.  A “googol” is 10100  or ten times itself one hundred times or 1 followed by 100 zeros.  This name was proposed by a 9-yr old nephew (Milton) of Dr. Edward Kasner (1878-1955) a professor at Columbia University in New York.  Why do you think the company “Google” uses this name?

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