Zero the Hero
Feb 23, 03:39 PM
A while back I happened upon a wonderful trio of radio series via Jeremy Keith and Huffduffer. Five Numbers, Another Five Numbers and Further Five Numbers by Simon Singh. You don’t particularly need to like numbers to enjoy these series, which is the real beauty of them.
One number discussed is 0, which is far more interesting than I ever realised. The Romans did not have 0 in their mathematical arsenal and this prevented them from going further mathematically.A joke amongst mathematicians describes the Roman lunar rocket sat on the launch pad at the colosseum. They never launched the rocket, not due to a lack of technology, but a lack of the number 0.
So the Romans did not have 0, only IVXLCDM, meaning they had to resort to a system that sometimes subtracted as well as added. For example, the number 3 is written as 1+1+1, III, whereas the number 4 is written as 5-1, IV. This is all well and good until you see some larger numbers.
The lack of a 0 posed more problems as you got past the number 9. 10 is X, so naturally 20 is XX, 30 is XXX, but then 40 is XL, 50-10. As numbers become larger the Romans need to invent a new symbol to represent that number. C=100, D=500 and M=1000. That is really as far a Roman numerals go.
0 was eventually brought back from the East by traders. This new fangled number meant that you could write large numbers with ease. Take this example:
I know which system I would like to have to decipher on a regular basis.
I would recommend checking out these fine series if you get a chance. You might as well start here.
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