History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s12.16

v1.c7.s12.16

It will be observed that two symbols are required in the above calculation to distinguish between two kinds of operations, viz., (1) that of halving and (2) that of the 'absence' of halving and subtraction of unity. These might have been denoted by any two marks arbitrarily chosen.² The question arises: why did Piṅgala select the symbols "two" and "zero"? The use of the symbol two can be easily explained as having been suggested by the process of halving—division by the number two. The zero symbol was used probably because of its being associated, at the time, with the notion of 'absence' or 'subtraction.' The use of zero in either sense is found to have been common in Hindu mathematics from early times. The above reference to Piṅgala, however, shows that the Hindus possessed a symbol for zero (*śûnya*), whatever it might have been, before 200 B.C.