Why many mathematicians say that ‘the number zero is mankind’s greatest achievement’

From zero sprang the laws of the universe, number theory, and modern mathematics.

“Zero is, by many mathematicians, definitely considered one of the greatest — or maybe the greatest — [achievements] of mankind,” said the neuroscientist Andreas Nieder, who studies animal and human intelligence at the University of Tübingen in Germany. “It took an eternity until mathematicians finally invented zero as a number.”

Perhaps that’s no surprise given that the concept can be difficult for the brain to grasp. It takes children longer to understand and use zero than other numbers, and it takes adults longer to read it than other small numbers. That’s because to understand zero, our mind must create something out of nothing. It must recognize absence as a mathematical object.

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“It’s like an extra level of abstraction away from the world around you,” said Benjy Barnett, who is completing graduate work on consciousness at University College London.

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