Kids: I, II, III, IV, V, VI...

Everyone is familiar with the Roman Numerals. What is the Roman Numeral for zero?

I know of no Roman Numeral symbol for zero. I’m not sure who invented “zero” as there is a great deal of debate as to who and where it was invented. It may have been used as early as the Babylonians and it was being used in India around the 5th century. Zero reached western Europe about the 12th century from Northern Africa. The Mayans independently invented zero the 4th century.

We learned this tidbit from Steven’s recent world history project on Arab contributions to civilization.

[Image credit to scratch.mit.edu]