THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY October 10, 2002 zero ______________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: VeriSign - The Value of Trust
Secure all your Web servers now - with a proven 5-part strategy. The FREE Server Security Guide shows you how to deploy the latest encryption and authentication techniques, deliver transparent protection with the strongest security without disrupting users, and more. Get your FREE Guide now: http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,6471,00.htm?FreeGuide ______________ TODAY'S WORD: zero See our definition with hyperlinks at http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci856016,00.html In mathematics, zero, symbolized by the numeric character 0, is both: 1. In a positional number system, a place indicator meaning "no units of this multiple." For example, in the decimal number 1,041, there is one unit in the thousands position, no units in the hundreds position, four units in the tens position, and one unit in the 1-9 position. 2. An independent value midway between +1 and -1. In writing outside of mathematics, depending on the context, various denotative or connotative meanings for zero include "total failure," "absence," "nil," and "absolutely nothing." ("Nothing" is an even more abstract concept than "zero" and their meanings sometimes intersect.) Notation for placeholders in positional numbers is found on stone tablets from ancient (3,000 B.C.) Sumeria. Yet, the Greeks had no concept of a number like zero. In terms of modern use, zero is sometimes traced to the Indian mathematician Aryabhata who, about 520 A.D., devised a positional decimal number system that contained a word, "kha," for the idea of a placeholder. By 876, based on an existing tablet inscription with that date, the kha had become the symbol "0". Meanwhile, somewhat after Aryabhata, another Indian, Brahmagupta, developed the concept of the zero as an actual independent number, not just a place-holder, and wrote rules for adding and subtracting zero from other numbers. The Indian writings were passed on to al-Khwarizmi (from whose name we derive the term "algorithm") and thence to Leonardo Fibonacci and others who continued to develop the concept and the number. Various arithmetic operations that include zero have sometimes been the subject of dispute such as the result of dividing zero by zero. The answer is that it can't be done. Although early mathematicians tried to wrestle some sort of result out of this operation, later ones have decided that this problem just won't bear any fruit. This is viewed as another case where language allows us to ask a question that really doesn't make sense to ask. Zero to the zeroeth power on the other hand has three possible answers. For some apparently useful reasons, the answer is 1. But in other contexts, the answer can be either "indeterminate" (not capable of being calculated) or "undefined/nonexistent." RELATED TERMS: algorithm http://searchvb.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid8_gci211545,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: A Web site in the U.K. offers "A history of Zero." http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Zero.html Aryabhatta and other Indian thinkers are discussed in a site on Indian heritage. http://www.indiaheritage.com/science/math.htm Hossein Arsham has written a paper called "Zero in Four Dimensions: Historical, Psychological, Cultural, and Logical Perspectives." http://www.pantaneto.co.uk/issue5/arsham.htm ______________________ THIS DAY IN IT HISTORY | October 10, 1995 Netscape invited users to beta test their new browser and promised to pay $1,000 to the first person to find a major security bug. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211654,00.html ______________________ CROSSWORD PUZZLE #4 | Graphics Improve your flexible thinking skills. Print out the puzzle and keep it nearby to work on throughout your day! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci853835,00.html ______________________ QUIZ #8 | Database basics How much do you know about how a database works? Take our quiz and find out! http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci750695,00.html ______________________ REAL-LIFE CHALLENGE #17 | Why learn Linux? Bob wants to know which is the better career move -- taking the free time he has to learn Linux, or using that time to get another Microsoft certification. Can you give him some advice? http://whatis.discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?[EMAIL PROTECTED]@.1dcfae0e/141!viewtype=threadDate&skip=&expand= ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] N1 http://searchsolaris.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid12_gci854790,00.html [2] OOPSLA http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci854764,00.html [3] segmentation and reassembly http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854752,00.html [4] SIGTRAN http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854620,00.html [5] TP0-TP4 http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci854617,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. 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