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A Pinch of History

History of zero in Indian Perspective: India is indeed the country where the zero, position value and
place holder zero was discovered. In 200 BCE, Acharya Pingala in his book Chhand Sastra defined zero
with the sloka–
xk;=ks"kM+la[;keèksZ¿iuhrs };M-osQ vof'k"V lz;Lrs"kqA
:ieuh; };M-dkèk% 'kqU;a LFkkI;e~AA
The shloka is the first mathematical definition of zero which states – In Gayatri Chandas, one pada has
six letters. (A Gayatri mantra has 4 padas with 24 syllables. When this number is made half; it becomes
three, remove one from it and make it half to get one. Remove one from it thus get zero. Mathematically,
1 1
0 = { of 6 – 1} – 1
2 2
As far as the operation on zero is concerned, Brahmagupta was the first Indian who had given rules on
the operation of zero in his book Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta written in 628 CE. It is worth mentioning that
Aryabhata had nothing to do with the discovery of zero. In his Varnakshar System of writing numbers, he
never defined any symbol of zero. The present symbol of zero is said to be taken from the Chaturbhuja
Temple Gwalior. This temple was built in 876 CE by king Jayavardhana. There is a rock inside the temple
that has 270 written on it.

Brahmagupta gave some properties as follows:
• When zero is added to a number or subtracted from a number, the number remains unchanged; and a number
multiplied by zero becomes zero.
• He also gave arithmetical rules in terms of fortunes (positive numbers) and debts (negative numbers).
• A debt minus zero is a debt.
• A fortune minus zero is a fortune.

• Zero minus zero is a zero.
• A debt subtracted from zero is a fortune.
• A fortune subtracted from zero is a debt.

Knowledge Desk — Mathematician
Ancient Indian poet and mathematician Acharya Pingala was born between the third and second centuries
BCE. He is credited with being the first to represent the combinatorics of the Sanskrit metre in the combination
of Laghu and Guru. He is most known for his work Chhand Shastra, which was written around 200 BCE and
deals with the poetic metre of Vedic verse. This marks the inception of the computer’s binary number system.
Although he was the first to define zero, he was unsure of how to apply it like we do now. Additionally, his
work discusses the Meru Prastara technique, which is now known as the Pascal’s triangle.

299 The Other Side of Zero