The numeral zero is often regarded as a simple number, but it is much more than that! Zero plays an important role in our everyday lives. Down below are some important things which would not have been possible without zero.
Our online technology runs on binary code which is the computers processing instructions. Binary code comprises of the numerals 1 and 0. Without zero, binary code would not have been invented as using any numbers besides 1s and 0s makes things complicated. All of our online technology would not have been possible without zero. This also applies to all electronic technology. Zero and binary code revolutionized our online technology and broke the seemingly unbreakable barrier of computer processing instructions.
This is a picture of binary code. In computers, millions of lines of 1s and 0s are run every second to transmit instructions.
(Source-Harvard University)
Calculus is a branch of math which deals with change. For example, calculus is used to describe anything which changes, like the movement of the stock market over time, or the dispersal of medicine throughout the body.
"Calculus is used to describe how pretty much anything changes – and it relies heavily on the concept of zero."
~ Hannah Fry
(Mathematician)
The kind of precision which zero gave was exactly what 17th century thinkers Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz needed to develop calculus. Without zero, we wouldn't have the ability to analyze things at a greater level. Although calculus is not seen as important, calculus is of utmost importance because of its applicability. Calculus is not restricted to mathematics; it's used pretty much everywhere - physics, chemistry, economics, and much more.
Picture of the German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz. Using zero, he discovered infinitesimal calculus.
(Source-Encyclopedia Britannica)
Picture of the famous English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton. Using zero, he developed some of calculus's foundations.
(Painting from the, "National Portrait Gallery")
(Source-The Royal Institution, London, Speaker-Hannah Fry)
Seeing these major accomplishments, we can easily tell that without zero, much of our modern world would literally fall apart.
"If you look at zero you see nothing; but look through it and you will see the world."
~ Robert Kaplan
(Author of the book, "The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero")