Timeline for How advanced can a civilization get without zero?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 6, 2018 at 18:23 | comment | added | Alexander | While floating point calculations can sidestep the issue of zero for some time, the concept of zero is absolutely there. "1.-1." should print "0.", and "1./(1.-1.)" should result in error or "infinity", if software is handling this condition. However, software can be deliberately designed to hide 0 from the user, but if requires someone who understands "zero" very well to do that. | |
| Jul 6, 2018 at 18:08 | comment | added | jpa | @plasticinsect: The idea is that the computers would represent zero as denormal value / special case, but for a user that doesn't understand zero, any value so small would seem insignificant and they wouldn't bother to learn the difference between true zero and very small. | |
| Jul 6, 2018 at 17:49 | comment | added | Yorik | I think floating point can be easily represented as heads/tails, hands/feet, left/right. So the concept of zero would not need to be used as a concept for the mechanical manipulation of the system. The "Paddy-cake" game could be a calculation. | |
| Jul 6, 2018 at 16:48 | comment | added | plasticinsect | If we assume these computers were designed by some other civilization that did have a concept of zero (which is, I think, a necessary assumption for them to have invented computers) why wouldn't the computers be designed to represent and display zero? It seems like the young civilization that discovers/inherits these computers would be forced to learn about zero in order to use them at all. | |
| Jul 6, 2018 at 13:52 | comment | added | Mindwin Remember Monica | This becomes a chicken-egg dilemma. How would they get floating point computers without zero, is not disclosed. -1 | |
| Jul 6, 2018 at 10:49 | history | answered | jpa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |