If the Romans did not have a symbol for a zero, how did they perform mathmatics and engineering? Obviously they were very adept at both?
2006-08-01 13:49:46 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Roman mathematics was practical, not theoretical, thus zero was not necessary. How to you pour zero cubic cubits of concrete? Zero times zero is still zero and a number cannot be divided by zero, thus there was no need to deal with "nothing" in Roman mathematics. We could just as well ask how they managed all their engineering feats without either trigonometry or calculus as well. Mathematics is a cumulative discipline, each age adding a piece to the theoretical complex.
2006-08-01 15:35:50 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
there is no zero in roman maths, the concept doesn´t exist in that time. like the negative numbers, or 0,001, or 1/3, etc
2006-08-01 13:57:35 · answer #2 · answered by bastayadetantatonteria 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, Taivo beat me to it!
2006-08-01 16:25:36 · answer #3 · answered by cognitively_dislocated 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋