Zero
mathworld.wolfram.com
Zero
1–10 of 20 posts
Re: Zero
#2It is sad that the link to the School House Rock segment "My Hero, Zero" appears to have been hijacked.
The last good capture was in Feb 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090214010119/http://school-hou...
Re: Zero
#3In college we had a freshman writing seminar requirement, which were encouraged to be broadly interpreted. I took a Math course, of all things. We learned Euclidean geometry, proved the Pythagorean theorem through construction, calculated ancient dates, and wrote about it all.
My final paper was a 15-20 page paper on Zero, and, despite cringing at my own writing, is still probably my favorite thing I've ever written. Zero has a fascinating history, from being outlawed in a few European countries, to being associated with the Mayan King of Death. One great little piece is the following poem:
>U 0 a 0, but I 0 thee
>O 0 no 0, but O 0 me.
>O let not my 0 a mere 0 go,
>But 0 my 0 I 0 thee so.
The word "cipher" used to be another name for zero/0, so the above reads as:
>You sigh for a cipher, but I sigh for thee
>O sigh for no cipher, but O sigh for me.
>O let not my sigh for a mere cipher go
>But sigh for my sigh, for I sigh for thee so.
Which, of course, explains why Neo, The One from the Matrix, had an enemy named Cypher.
Re: Zero
#4This is fascinating, didn't know there was such a rich history behind zero.
Re: Zero
#5Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (Seife) is a terrific book. Highly recommended!
Re: Zero
#6In college we had a freshman writing seminar requirement, which were encouraged to be broadly interpreted. I took a Math course, of all things. We learned Euclidean geometry, proved the Pythagorean theorem through construction, calculated ancient dates, and wrote about it all. My final paper was a 15-20 page paper on Zero, and, despite cringing at my own writing, is still probably my favorite thing I've ever written.…
Cipher comes from the same root as Zero (sifr), making it a doublet word.
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30774/origin-of-z...
Re: Zero
#7Bill Casselman is interested in the history of the number 0, and travelled to Gwalior, India, to see one of the oldest known written occurrences of it. I had the good fortune to be eating at a dinner with him in which he was talking about his trip (see http://www.ams.org/samplings/feature-column/fcarc-india-zero), and another diner remarked, without missing a beat, "that's a long way to go for nothing."
Re: Zero
#8In college we had a freshman writing seminar requirement, which were encouraged to be broadly interpreted. I took a Math course, of all things. We learned Euclidean geometry, proved the Pythagorean theorem through construction, calculated ancient dates, and wrote about it all. My final paper was a 15-20 page paper on Zero, and, despite cringing at my own writing, is still probably my favorite thing I've ever written.…
Cipher comes from the same root as Zero (sifr), making it a doublet word. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30774/origin-of-z...
So the whole thing is a love poem then, with "cipher" actually meaning "zero", "nothing", or "negate".
Cool.
Re: Zero
#9In college we had a freshman writing seminar requirement, which were encouraged to be broadly interpreted. I took a Math course, of all things. We learned Euclidean geometry, proved the Pythagorean theorem through construction, calculated ancient dates, and wrote about it all. My final paper was a 15-20 page paper on Zero, and, despite cringing at my own writing, is still probably my favorite thing I've ever written.…
c'mon man, put a link for that paper of yours. You know everyone here will be curious (well, at least some people will be, I'm sure).
Re: Zero
#10[deleted]