Who actually invented the number 0?

Zero as a placeholder was invented independently in civilizations around the world, said Dr. Annette van der Hoek, Indiologist and research coordinator at the Zero Project. The Babylonians got their number system from the Sumerians, the first people in the world to develop a counting system. read more

0 (zero) is both a number and the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals. The number 0 fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. read more

It enables the numerals to cycle, acquiring different meanings in different locations (compare 3,000,000 and 30). With the exception of the Mayan system, whose zero glyph never left the Americas, ours is the only one known to have a numeral for zero. Babylonians had a mark for nothingness, say some accounts, but treated it primarily as punctuation. read more