[Script Info] Title: [Events] Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.00,0:00:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mysteries of vernacular: Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.00,0:00:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Zero, Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.00,0:00:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a number that indicates an absence of units. Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.00,0:00:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In order to understand the genesis of the word zero, Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.00,0:00:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we must begin with the very origins of counting. Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.00,0:00:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The earliest known archaeological evidence of counting Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.00,0:00:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dates back approximately 37,000 years Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.00,0:00:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is merely a series of notches in bone. Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.00,0:00:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wasn't until around 2500 B.C. Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.00,0:00:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the first written number system Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.00,0:00:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,began to take form in Mesopotamia, Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.00,0:00:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,using the units one, ten, and sixty. Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.00,0:00:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fast forward another three millennia Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.00,0:00:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to seventh century India Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.00,0:00:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where mathematicians used a symbol dot Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.00,0:00:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to distinguish between numbers Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.00,0:00:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like 25, 205, and 250. Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.00,0:01:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Employed as both a placeholder and a number, Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.00,0:01:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this all-powerful dot eventually morphed Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.00,0:01:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the symbol we know today. Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.00,0:01:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The word zero comes from the Arabic safira, Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.00,0:01:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose literal translation is empty. Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.00,0:01:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Passing through Italian as zefiro, Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.00,0:01:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,zero came into English in the seventeenth century. Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.00,0:01:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A second descendant of the Arabic root Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.00,0:01:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was adopted into English through old French Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.00,0:01:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the word cipher. Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.00,0:01:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Originally sharing the meaning empty with zero, Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.00,0:01:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cipher later came to describe a code, Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.00,0:01:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as early codes often used complicated substitutions Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.00,0:01:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between letters and numbers. Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.00,0:01:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From this shared empty origin, Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.00,0:01:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,zero continues to represent the number Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.00,0:01:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that represents nothing.