A History of Nothing
Over at Impearls, Michael McNeil has posted an interesting bit about the history of the number zero.
Michael traces the concept of zero not to the Arab world (a popular misconception, no doubt related to the etymology of the word “zero”, which is derived from the Arabic sifr), but to Indian mathematicians. Britannica suggests the concept goes back, in one form or another, at least to the 3rd century BC Babylonians.
(See Topic: Zero for more on the history of the concept of zero from Britannica.)