Does Zero (0) exist?

Question

I have always wondered if the the number 0 actually exists. I mean, how can it? Sure what might appear to be 0 is actually 0.000000000000000000012 or something like that. I don't see how NOTHING could actually exist.

By this I mean, how could any action have no effect on something that is apparently "too far away" to be affected?

E.g. by waving my hand, would the air displaced cause a tiny reaction to something a thousand kilometres away, even if by the tinies amount? Surely if you recurse 0 enough, you will actually find a positive or negative value!

E.g. if I breathed on a solid rock for a billion billion years, would the rock eventually be worn down from the very slight friction caused by my breath?

PS I realise that throwing 99 out of 99 cans of beer off a cliff would mean that 0 exists, I guess 100% is the opposite of 0 as well. I can understand that.

I don't mean zero as a theory. I mean can ZERO as a QUANTITY exist? If you were to break down zero the same way you can Pi, would you find that there is always a positive or negative integer at the "end"?

Nobody was smart enough to realise that I am talking about Zero as a REAL QUANTITY. I am not talking about zero as a mathematical theory, so please stop trying to explain that to me. I am not stupid.

I want to know IF the REAL QUANTITY of zero ACUTALLY EXISTS. Not the MATHEMATICAL THEORY.

Matter exists, can be exmined to find smaller and smaller particles. If you "had a really really powerful microscope" would you find that at the smallest level, NOTHING EXISTS? Of course not. Something is always made up of something. If that is the case, then infinity exists. And if infinity exists, how can Zero exist? If infinity exists, then all possible scenarios must exist. Therefore, the perfect balance of "zero" can't!

Does ANYBODY see where I'm coming from?

Answer 1

And here is your answer. First of all, two things can be said about 0, The first is that 0 DOES exist! And the second is that 0, does NOT exist! --Both. because 0 has the ability to become both. Before the Universe began, however that was done, there was 0. From 0 was extracted a formation. Yes 0 has significant value. For without 0, there could never be 1. There is only one thing larger than the whole of the known universe. That larger thing is 0,--nothing--the nothing, or 0 which surrounds the universe. And without the value of 0, there could be no universe. 0 means "nothing" --yet without "nothing"--there can be no "something." 0 is inextricably locked into, and onto all things. This is why 0 has "both" no value, and "also" some value. Everything is affected by either something, or by nothing else, including your breath, which bumps against atoms and affects the entire planet, even the universe. But without that "breath" (0) the universe would also be affected in another way. 0 as value.

Answer 2

Zero is a mathematical construct which indicates an amount of none. Consider a number line with positive and negative real numbers along the line. There is a point which represents the point where neither a positive or negative number exists. It is a single finite point which is the dividing line between all positive and all negative numbers. So, it DOES exist in that sense. In calculations, it represents again an amount, an amount of none, a place holder to represent an empty amount. In the decimal system we put things into boxes and by custom we carry to the next box when we get 9 items in the 1st box and attempt to ad a 10th, This is nothing more than addition and when we use boxes which contain items we represent the number of items in the box with a symbol, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, which are nothing more than tokens which represent how many are in each box. Again, the symbol 0 represents a finite value of an empty box. In the case of zero, a token which we define as the symbol 0, is no more than a token for a discrete quantity of none in the box. Remember, this is just a construct to facilitate counting items. Roman numerals had no concept of zero or negative numbers. It took the Arabs to come up with the idea of a token for any number of items in a box, including none.

Answer 3

0/0 exists but it is indeterminate. If we divide zero by zero itself, we will find that there can be any numbers, because if we multiply any numbers by zero, it will be zero. Think of a number and try to multiply it with 0. For example, 0*1 = 0, thus 0/0 can be 1. And 0/0 can also be 2, 3, or other numbers because 0*2, 0*3, etc will be 0. Actually, this problem has infinite answers so this problem is indeterminate.

Answer 4

Both you and Guy E have taken a good wack at it...

The value 0 does approximate existence both linguistically and mathematically. I say 'approximate, for which the best mental pictorial would be rendered by that of an asymptote. Yet Mind in itself can not approach it of itself, for 0 so far exceeds the Mind's capacity to embrace it and absorb it.

Answer 5

How many beers are left when you "bring down and pass around" all 99?

Zero is just a symbol of what isn't there. Yes it is something. Nothing *is* something. Really.

(The acids in your breath would start to dissolve the rock. Lichens would form. You would end up with a forest in your mouth!)

Answer 6

I believe your question, respectfully, is can I (meaning you) ever be zero. You spoke of waving your hand, and breathing. I believe the answer is no. You do affect. How wonderful! to add to the theory'I think therefore I am', we can today add,' I am because I am more than zero'. but that does still sortof assume that you exist, since you have to exist to be one of something. And now I quit thinking philosophically so as to keep my sanity.

Answer 7

Zero has many uses in mathematics. The purpose of math is not to theorize, it is to prove or disprove theories. Why don't you start plopping zero into equations and find out what you formulate. I'm sure you'll find that it does exist.

Answer 8

I've always thought of zero as a construct, a tool meant to help organize and facilitate civil society.
In a practical sense, if we are discussing ownership of tangible objects, zero can be used to indicate the absence of them::
I own zero cats.

Answer 9

No 0 does not exist.

0 was actually a mind trick created by a philosopher and scientist named Raymond Charles Cunningham you can google him or do wikipedia.

Answer 10

i c where your coming from, because of a little thing called equivalent exchange where theres always something, but in truth the only way to have something equal to zero is to be ignorant enough to actually think theres nothing there.