Poll: Is zero a number? (Read before voting)

[stuart90]

uhm.....you got too much time on your hands and thinking too much, in a way you're just splitting hairs.
It's a number, stop messing around.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

There is no such thing as any number by that logic. Zero is as much a number as any other, so maybe no numbers exist?
Though to answer the question of the poll, yes, Zero is a number

 

[YouBecame]

Several civilisations managed without one for thousands of years at a time, so that implies that it isn't. It's hard to say anything about it though, since it's literally our best representation of nothing. Can nothing exist as an entity?

We also managed without -1 and i, but these are certainly numbers.

 

[kouriichi]

Zero is digital god.

You made my day 8)

Oh, and no, i dont think its a number.
You cant show its value because it has no value. it has no mass, matter, weight or form.

And because anything with no mass, matter, weight or form scientifically does not exist, 0 does not exist.

it wouldn't physically exist, but numbers aren't physical.

What i mean, is that it cant be physically represented.

Show me 1 cat.
Now show me 0 cats.

you cant show 0 of something, because its nothing.

It has no value. you cant lable something as 0, without it not existing to begin with.

See what im getting at? XD

 

[Agayek]

-snip-

0 is a representation of a value, just like every other number. If you want to use your examples, we can easily state that there are 0 atoms of Haffloffadium. Since I just made it up off the top of my head, we can confidently state that there exists 0 atoms of it anywhere in the universe.

I understand your argument, but since we possess the concept of emptiness (even if we can't fully comprehend it, but that's a different argument), we know that 0 is a number. It represents the absence of X, just as much as every other number represents the existence of X (X being any particular thing).

 

[YouBecame]

_snip_

you cant show 0 of something, because its nothing.

It has no value. you cant lable something as 0, without it not existing to begin with.

See what im getting at? XD

You can see 0 cats at the moment (im guessing). However, as it happens any number itself is conceptual. If you like arguments like this, check out some of the arguments as to exactly what a definition of 1 is.

 

[Tharwen]

Several civilisations managed without one for thousands of years at a time, so that implies that it isn't. It's hard to say anything about it though, since it's literally our best representation of nothing. Can nothing exist as an entity?

We also managed without -1 and i, but these are certainly numbers.

But they were never fundamental bases of a number system.
[sub]I won't respond to anything else you say until tomorrow due to this annoying period of unconsciousness I put myself into every night.[/sub]

 

[VincentX3]

Well zero is on the number line, it has to be a number then.
*Waits for puppy to be on fire*

 

[Plurralbles]

It's the most important number ever. Every modern technology you see today couldn't have been made without the zero.

We're not sure who thought of the zero. The general consensus is that it was a Chinese mathematician, a long long time ago.

That makes an Indian comedian look like an asshole if true...

 

[Kanazuchi]

From a common sense standpoint, yes, zero is a number. It's kind of like black is a color, even though it's technically the lack of all color. Nice argument though, something to think about.

 

[YouBecame]

Several civilisations managed without one for thousands of years at a time, so that implies that it isn't. It's hard to say anything about it though, since it's literally our best representation of nothing. Can nothing exist as an entity?

We also managed without -1 and i, but these are certainly numbers.

But they were never fundamental bases of a number system.
[sub]I won't respond to anything else you say until tomorrow due to this annoying period of unconsciousness I put myself into every night.[/sub]

night dude.

i certainly is as much of a basis to the complex number plane as 1 is, and -1 is certainly a fundamental concept to the extension of natural numbers to integers.

 

[kouriichi]

_snip_

you cant show 0 of something, because its nothing.

It has no value. you cant lable something as 0, without it not existing to begin with.

See what im getting at? XD

You can see 0 cats at the moment (im guessing). However, as it happens the number itself is conceptual. If you like arguments like this, check out some of the arguments as to exactly what a definition of 1 is.

Well you can see 1 cat.
You litterally cannot see 0 cats.

One is a number, because you can give it value. 1+1=2 so it has a definative value.
0+0=0. It has no value. Zero cannot be shown outside the realm of concept, so its only an idea.

And scientifically, idea's dont exist eather. Little zappy lightening bolts in your head do.

 

[Skoosh]

Zero is a number.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/zero
You'll notice zero was one of the first things added to the list of numbers (after obvious positive whole numbers).

You seem to think that "1" or "42" aren't concepts, but for some reason zero is. It's unique from other numbers because it is neither positive nor negative, but it still represents the idea of a particular value. As for "no" not being a number, look at "many." Just because you can use a word that isn't a number to describe something doesn't mean it's not a number.

Zero is used all over math and science, holding and representing a very specific value. The absence of something is still a value, just like owing something is still a value (0 and negative, respectively). If that same person that traveled backward 1 mile had a friend next to him that didn't move, how many miles did he go? Zero!

Websters defines a number as "a unit belonging to an abstract mathematical system and subject to specified laws of succession, addition, and multiplication" so it seems "0" fits that definition. Now stop being an idiot.

 

[superstringz]

0 is both a number and an abstract concept. There is a reason the invention on 0 is considered one of the biggest advances in mathematics: its counter-intuitive, but still incredibly useful.

 

[Rainforce]

Looks like you just want to disagree because you can : /
It's defined as a number in our definition of the term numbers. period.
...you can discuss if our definition, or view of that model, or anything is accurate, though XD
maybe thats the point youre looking at.

 

[TOTL_UNIALAYSHUN]

I claim that zero is more of a concept than a number. It is a placeholder to theorize the space between positive and negative.

Of course, I understand the other side of the argument. If you don't have any apples around, then there must be 0 apples right? This starts bringing in semantics. Yes, I have 0 apples in my room at this current time. No, that does NOT make 0 a number. I can also say no apples are in my room. Is 'no' a number? Absolutely not.

I've never really thought about it that way. Being a placeholder, that does make sense. It has no value, therefore it cannot TRULY exist as a number. *votes no*

I will set a puppy on fire with my mind.

Haha, ultimate finishing line. Loved that.

 

[Rhiehn]

Saying "well there might be .0001 of an apple in my room" doesn't mean anything. I can say without fear of being wrong that there are zero alien space ships in my room at the moment, yes you can replace zero with "no", but say there was one, I could replace one with "an".

Show me 1 cat.
Now show me 0 cats.

you cant show 0 of something, because its nothing.

It has no value. you cant lable something as 0, without it not existing to begin with.

See what im getting at? XD

I see what you're getting at, unfortunately, what you're getting at is wrong. Show me 1. You can't because 1 is an abstract concept, as is zero, numbers themselves are abstract, numbers represent a quantity of something concrete, all numbers are abstract means of representing how many of a concrete object exist, zero representing none doesn't make it any more abstract than any other number.

 

[Tim_Buoy]

For another example, say you travel -1 miles forwards. Well all that means is that you traveled 1 mile BACKWARDS. Positive and negative imply direction.

there is no such thing as negative distance
edit: and its a number because its on the number line (dont really believe this but i kinda want to see you set the puppy on fire with your mind it would be awesome )

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Zero is digital god.

You made my day 8)

Oh, and no, i dont think its a number.
You cant show its value because it has no value. it has no mass, matter, weight or form.

And because anything with no mass, matter, weight or form scientifically does not exist, 0 does not exist.

it wouldn't physically exist, but numbers aren't physical.

What i mean, is that it cant be physically represented.

Show me 1 cat.
Now show me 0 cats.

you cant show 0 of something, because its nothing.

It has no value. you cant lable something as 0, without it not existing to begin with.

See what im getting at? XD

Your example doesn't work. I can show you something without any cats, and there are 0 cats. Not disagreeing with you, but the example doesn't work.