Le chiffre zéro
Audio
Most ancient civilizations had a mathematical system that allowed them, for example, to trade, manage crops, or count livestock. However, neither the Romans, the Chinese, nor the Greeks used the number 0. The first traces of zero date back to the 3rd or 4th century AD, more than 1,700 years before our time. It would thus have appeared at the same time in 2 civilizations separated by several thousands of km, and today extinct: the Mayans in Central America and the Babylonians in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). And in the West, it was only in the 12th century that we saw zero appear ... Podcast La puce à l'oreille