2007-01-27 02:00:02 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Zero is an actual number but nothing is not.
What makes 2x + 3 = 3? zero
What makes 2x +1 = 2x + 5? nothing
2007-01-27 02:06:00 · answer #1 · answered by hayharbr 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, in mathematics.
Nothing is an English word, and as an English word, it can be used interchangeably with the term "zero". However, mathematically, there are lots of differences.
Zero is a real number, which has properties:
It is the additive identity element, over the real numbers, and over the integers, and over the rational numbers. It is the value of x, at the point where a graph in the xy-plane intersects the y-axis. It is the explicit numerical answer to a great variety of problems, like the cosine of 90 degrees, or the limit as x approaches infinity of (3/x).
"Nothing" is a logical statement that there are no solutions, and would be more accurately represented as the empty set, or (with the typeface used for these answers) { }. Nothing is what is in this set. Its cardinality is zero.
When there is a word problem where the answer is 0 items or 0 dollars, then this really refers to no members of a set (items or dollars). So, one could answer either way, in the appropriate terms: "We ate all the candy and there was nothing left", or "zero pieces of candy were left", but that does not mean that "nothing" is the same as "zero" in mathematics.
2007-01-27 04:46:50 · answer #2 · answered by Asking&Receiving 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure. Zero is a place holder. It is a number. Nothing refers to the absence of anything. If you are talking about using the word "nothing" as a number, then there is no difference.
2007-01-27 02:05:31 · answer #3 · answered by citrus punch 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not really, but technically I suppose you could say there is; zero is a whole number, but it has no value, whereas if you have a set with no elements, not even zero, that's really nothing. Depends on how picky the teacher is.
2007-01-27 02:07:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes and no. It depends upon the context.
In mathematics, zero is defined as a number, and "nothing" is not.
But in baseball, they make no such distinction, and you will often hear sports commentators talk about a "five - nothing ball game", meaning that the score is five - zero.
2007-01-27 02:12:50 · answer #5 · answered by Edward W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋