User:Peter Schmitt/Draft

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http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,1085.msg8866.html#msg8866

There are several popular books on zero which have to be read with care as can be seen from the reviews.

%% 18jul09 : Kaplan, The Nothing that is

  • Robert Kaplan,

The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero.
  Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000, xii+225 pages, $22.00.

Reviewed by
Philip J. Davis, Embedding Zero in Exposition, Book Review. SIAM News (September 17, 2000) [[1]]
For Nature by Ivor Grattan-Guinness, Much ado about some thing, Book Review. Nature 401, 645-646 (14 October 1999) doi:10.1038/44273 [[2]]


This popular book deals with a fascinating aspect of mathematics: the occurrence of zero within the arithmetics of integers and real numbers, and its many representations as numerals. Robert Kaplan is at his best on the latter: a wide range of examples is given, both of numerals and also of possible origins for the signs '0' and 'o'.

Andrew Leahy [[3]]
Brian Blank, The College Mathematics Journal, Vol.32 No.2, March 2001, 155-160 157-160 (Seife 157-158) 158-150 [[4]]
Keith Devlin, % "The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero" Natural History, Dec, 1999 [[5]]
John Derbyshire, The conquering zero

Review of The Nothing That Is by Robert Kaplan October 1999 [[6]]

Richard Pinch, Much ado about Nothing. Magazine issue 2228 (04 March 2000)

[New Scientist]

( [[7]] )

%% 20jul09 : Seife

Charles Seife, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
  Viking Penguin, New York, 2000, 248 pages, $24.95.

The College Mathematics Journal, Vol.32 No.2, March 2001, 155-160 157-160 (Seife 157-158) 158-150 ([pdf])


Steven G. Krantz, What's So Special About Zero?

Book Review, SIAM News (September 17, 2000) [siam.org] ([pdf])


John D. Barrow, The Book of Nothing Pantheon: 2001. 370 pp. $27.50

John O'Connor, Nothing to it! Book review. Nature 410, 748-749 (12 April 2001) doi:10.1038/35071152 [nature.com]

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What is the origin of zero? How did we indicate nothingness before zero?
  Scientific American (January 16, 2007), answer based on Kaplan ([Scientific American]

Bill Casselman, All for Nought. Feature column at [ams.org]

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