EL NÚMERO CERO THE NUMBER ZERO

Resumen

All civilizations before the III c. before Christ used a system based on symbols for numbers. Since then, the greeks and later the romans, used a system based on letters. The developing of numeric notations of India, left an important imprint in the mathematics of future civilizations: the decimal numeric system based on position, though this idea of the value based on position was a chief development of the babylonian system. Indians developped a system based on numeric position that was not only written but oral; so they were the first people in history to elaborate an spoken numbering system based on this rule. This process led to a fundamental discovery: the concept of “zero”, which they called “sunya” which meant empty. Initially the arabs were interested in the greek system and in the old sexagesimal system of Babilonian people, adapting them to their writing. In reference to the indian zero the arabs called it “céfer” (which means empty in arab language) and they started to use it around the year 700. Later on this world led to the spanish terms “cero” and “cifra”