|
 Nothing
is the subject of a lot of research by mathematicians. If you, like me, have read books on the origin of number
systems (A
History of Pi, et al), you know that no original counting systems had a symbol representing nothingness.
Don't believe me? What is the Roman numeral for zero? Most religions forbade the concept because it was an affront
to a Creator. Crazy? Galileo was "vehemently suspect of heresy" and required to "abjure, curse and detest" his
belief that
 the Earth was not the center of the universe. Mathematical archeologist
Amir Aczel thinks
he has located the earliest example of the number '0'
in a temple (of all places) in Cambodia. Does this finally prove that 'nothing'
is sacred?
Posted December 5, 2014
|
