what is the difference between zero and nothing?
Answer Posted / anan&
This is a real physiological, pharmacological, sociological
and physics question. It take in mathematics and many of
the physical sciences. To understand this problem you need
a background in Rectilinear Kinematics,Curvilinear
Kinematics,Rotational Kinematics,Translational Dynamics
Rotational Dynamics ,Work and Energy ,Gravitation
Noninertial Mechanics,Special Relativity,Fluid Mechanics
Simple Harmonic Motion,Damped Harmonic Motion,Driven
Harmonic Motion,Electric Oscillation,Alternating Current
Wave Motion,Elastic Waves,Electromagnetic Waves and a study
of Einstein's paper on the speed of light.
When we learn about counting numbers and natural numbers,
zero is always a stumbling block. This is because some
conventions say natural numbers start off with 1 and
counting numbers can start off at zero. Other conventions
include zero in the natural set, so this is a source of
obvious confusion for many, when they get to thinking about
it! And when I took a course in linear algebra, we learned
about the null set and the zero set.
Think of a set as a collection of numbers or objects. Well,
the null set has nothing inside of it. However, if we look
at this set: S={0,1,2,3}, what do we see? We see a set
containing four objects; zero, one, two and three! So if we
looked at this set, S={0}, what do we see? A set with 1
element because zero is a number. So, nothingness is a
condition used to describe a set with zero elements. And
zero is a number that can be used to count the number of
elements in a set. Get the difference?
And for a more detailed explanation, I invite you to peruse
this Dr. Math post, inspired by the question of a four year
old girl. The beauty of it all is that a child asked this
question without fear for being called stupid or anything
else. Little did she know that it had baffled
mathematicians for centuries! Many ancient societies did
not even have the concept of the zero (except the Mayans
and you can read about them here)! This is because it
doesn't quite seem natural to have a symbol for something
that isn't there! This is a good example of children being
able to realize their potential if they are nurtured. I
have seen some parents tear down their children if they ask
a difficult question. Instead, this parent went to the Dr.
Math site. Now that is parental involvement at its best! If
we can all learn to go for our curiosities and not accept
brush offs to our questions, we will progress rapidly as a
society.
| Is This Answer Correct ? | 1 Yes | 0 No |
Post New Answer View All Answers
Explain the relevance of knowledge of History of Mathematics
What is the integral value of 1/((ax+b)pow(-8))?
Rounded off to the nearest whole year, how many years would it take for your money to double in an investment that was increasing with an annual compound rate of3.5%?
Define neighbourhood of a point in a plane
State the necessary condition for the extreme value.
find 842.8 +602=
The product of 6 factorial is how many times larger than the product of 5 factorial?
If perfect numbers, except 6, can be expressed by the sum of the cubes of an unbroken sequence of consecutive odd integers, what are the consecutive odd integerswhich, when cubed, give the perfect number 28?
Describe about concord pairs?
What 3 consecutive numbers add up to 45?
if the price of orange falls by 20 % one can buy 5 dozens more for RS 300, then the original price per dozen is
where is the y intercept for y = sin x?
explain the disciplinary values of teaching mathematics.
What is the greatest common divisor for the numbers 102 and 30?
Give the range for the following six values 2, 7, 11, 19, 25, 33