Zero (0), the mathematical conundrum

okay, 2 things before i begin... first, mods if this is better placed somewhere else, please relocate, it's been a minute since i've been here... 2nd, man wants to control everything, and by that i mean everything. take for example time, earth orbits the sun correct? but yet, we created clocks, with the false pretentiousness that we control time.. but if i take the battery out of my watch, the earth doesn't stop in orbit waiting for my battery to return does it?

so zero (0)... let me start by saying this... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19... and so on.. from this pattern, you can only assume 1 and 11 have basically the same value correct? as in 1+1=2, 11+1=12, and so on.. so what is 10? or 20? or 100? it can only be the equivalent of the powerless 0 right? then why do we give it power? i don't get it... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9... but add a 1 to 9 and you get?? another 1 with a 0? why is that? i am sorry if my question confuses... it confuses me as to why we give 0 any power... if you take 1 away from 1 you get... 0. but if you add 1 to 99, you get?? a 1 with TWO more 0's? so why is it when you take 1 away from 1 you get nothing? i am baffled... this is obviously relevant only to pi, being a number divided by another number, an equation that man has not been able to gain control of...

i know, there will be plenty of mathematical genius soon to dissuade my thought process, but it will only show me that genius wishes control, over things we aren't necessarily meant to control...

i came upon this thought process when i was laying in bed counting sheep... and wondered why the teens are given a different structure than other numbers... as in one, two, three... but why is it eleven? twelve? thirteen? yes, i can't explain why twenty is structured that way, or thirty, and so on, but why is twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, not the same? why is the equivalent of one called eleven? but then called twenty-ONE, so we give it back it's original title after we pass the teens? yes, yes, we had to call those numbers something right? or we wouldn't have our control over them yes...

but that's not my argument... actually i don't have an argument per se... i am just confused as to why 9+1 gives us a 1 followed by 0, which is of no value, but is somehow greater than 9? if you add 0 to any number, you get the same number, but then why do we put two 0's behind a 1 and get one hundred?

just to point out, i am 34 years old, and excelled quite well in mathematics all through school.. i work in a bankruptcy firm and deal with numbers all day long every day... leave it to sheep to make me further question our so called control of anything, or even a good understanding of our so called control...

It's not that the "00" behind the one means anything of themselves. They are "place holders", as most 4th grade teachers teach. When there's no numerical value for the ones place, to not lose the ones place, you put a 0. That's all.

reply to post by schitzoandro



That is all.

reply to post by schitzoandro


Like how deep you think. Zero wasnt a sure thing for the Greeks either. Check out "0" on Wikipedia
0(Number)

It is because we commonly use a base 10 number system, most likely because we have 10 fingers and thumbs to help when counting. In hexadecimal 9 + 1 = A. You could also use something like the Chinese alphabet in which there are 1,000's of individual characters to represent many different numbers, but it does get confusing and hard to remember them all. It does not really matter which base numbering system you use as they all have many different patterns within to help with addition, multiplication and other operators.

I'm so sick of all these threads about zero. People wanting to use infinity instead of zero or saying that zero doesn't exist. People who don't understand zero. Where did all these people come from?

You want to know what I don't get? I don't get people who don't understand zero. It's pretty damn simple. I'm not even going to try to explain it again.

For God's sake ... will you please just

reply to post by IpsissimusMagus


that is a great explanation.. it just is, i get it right? because we say so, mankind that is, right? yes... um no

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


again, that doesn't give me an answer... binary code refers to a computer system, i am not talking about a computer system, i've seen the matrix i get that... i am referring to a number with no value... how often does someone say count to 10 and you here the responding start with 0, 1, 2, ...
..yes maybe i'm with the greeks and romans on understanding how nothing can be something...

en.wikipedia.org...
in this someone wanted to convert all conversation to mathematics, again to further our misconception of control...

...also, if you add 25+25 you get 50... but if you take a calculator, a computer system, and add .25 + .25 you get .5, which means 0 holds no place in that equation

my head hurts.

reply to post by schitzoandro


Obviously the point I was making slipped right past you.

Binary is simply our number system in base-2. Try learning base-3 or base-5 and you will understand why base-10 (our number system) works the way it does.