Why India's contribution to mathematics of zero is remarkable

Zero is a very special number that helps us count and do math.

In India, many people believe that India invented zero, and schoolchildren are taught this.

But the true story is bigger and involves many countries.

Long ago, people in India, China, and Greece all began counting in groups of ten, like our ten fingers.

Later, the idea of place value meant a digit's spot changed its value, like the number 1 being able to mean one, ten, or a hundred.

To show an empty spot, people needed a zero symbol.

The oldest zero symbol we know of was found in Cambodia, not India.

India's great gift was to treat zero as a real number that could be added, subtracted, and multiplied.

From India, these ideas traveled to the Islamic world and then to Europe.

Today, the number system we all use is the work of many cultures over many centuries.