The Babylonians started placing the "two wedges" sign in places where we would write a zero in our system, which was read as several. Zero is an abstract concept that does not represent a specific quantity, but denotes the absence of value. The invention of zero is attributed to the ancient Hindus, who used it in the 5th century AD to denote an empty space between two numbers. Through Arab influence, zero was introduced to Europe in the 12th century and became an integral part of the Arabic numbering system.

There are sources that mention the Indian astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta (590-670) as the first to treat zero as a number, creating the first rules for performing mathematical operations with it. The wise Hindus saw how to add and subtract zero and concluded that multiplying any digit by zero gave zero.

At the same time  ...