628 CE / South & Southeast Asia
Brahmagupta includes zero in arithmetic rules
The Brahmasphutasiddhanta gives rules for zero and signed numbers, treating zero as more than an empty positional marker.
The story
Brahmagupta used fortunes and debts to explain positive and negative quantities and described addition, subtraction and multiplication involving zero. This was not zero's first appearance worldwide. His treatment of division by zero differs from modern mathematics. A written system made these rules available for further use, correction and debate.
Connections and context
Zero as a placeholder, zero as a number and division by zero have distinct histories. Indian, West Asian and American evidence needs careful comparison.
Dates and precision
628 CE Documented date
Positioned by the documented year, month or day. Missing precision is not inferred.
Representative map location
Bhillamala region
The region associated with Brahmagupta, around modern Bhinmal; not an exact composition site.
Representative coordinates · 25°, 72.27°
A marker identifies one representative place, such as a manuscript collection, laboratory or observing site. It does not mean the work happened only there, or assign a shared discovery to one country.
Bibliography
- University of St Andrews, MacTutor | Brahmagupta and arithmetic with zero
- University of St Andrews, MacTutor | Tietze on Numbers
References are listed as plain bibliography titles. They support particular facts or context; a reference does not certify every interpretation in a story.