0

0 is actually the identity element under addition for the real numbers, since if a is any real number,a + 0 = 0 + a = a. Mathematicians refers to 0 as the additive identity (or better said, the reflexive identity of addition).

Considered to be a purely imaginary number: 0 is the only complex number which is both real and purely imaginary.

By convention, you cannot divide any number by zero. In theory, zero multiplied by infinity is undetermined (as is zero divided by zero).

It is the only integer (actually, the only real number) that is neither negative nor positive. The question whether 'zero' is odd or even seems to be totally subjective!

Mathematical equations with one or more unknown factors are solved by equalizing them to zero.

is the number of n x n magic squares for n = 2.

The difference between 3, 30 and 300 is only some extra zeros, but those little circles are actually one of the world's greatest inventions! As early as 200 B.C., Hindu scholars were working with nine symbols and a dot that eventually would bring order out of a world of mathematical chaos. The dot and nine symbols were the earliest known forerunners of the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Comprised of only ten symbols and based on multiples of ten, the Hindu numeral system was easily learned and easily used. Who first thought of using a dot (bindu, in sanskrit) as the tenth number is not known. But it can be supposed that a Hindu, working on his abacus, wanted to keep a written record of the answers on his abacus. One day he used a symbol '.' which he called shunya () to indicate a column on his counting board in which he had moved no beads... Shunya, the dot, was originally not zero the number, but merely a mark to indicate empty space.

The word "zero" was coined by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano, said Fibonacci. He transformed the Arabic word 'صِفْر', sifr(from the semitic root s.p.r., 'empty') into Italian equivalent zefiro, shortened to zero afterwards.

Europe is divided into two regions: the 'zero region' (see above) and the 'nullus region' (nullus, 'zero' in Latin). The 'nullus region' includes the Germanic, the Skandinavian and some Slavonic countries.

The Greek word for zero is μηδεν, read as 'meden', which means, etymologically, not even one (i.e. nothing). The Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece had a wise motto, like this: "meden agan" - nothing too much (or nothing in excess)

In Italian, the expression a chilometri zero (in zero kilometers from any location) means 'local'. For instance, un gelato a chilometri zero translates as 'an ice-cream produced with local products'.

"Wuji" (Number 0), in the Mystical Numbers of Taoism, represents the Null, the Chaos, the Origin and the End.