The Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta — Where Zero Became a Number
From The Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
In **628 CE**, at Bhillamāla in western India, the astronomer **Brahmagupta** completed the **Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta** ("the correctly-established doctrine of Brahmā"). In its pages, for the first time anywhere in the world, **ZERO (śūnya) is treated as a NUMBER with its own arithmetic**, and **negative numbers** ("debts") are given systematic rules. This is one of the great turning-points in the history of human thought — and it happened in Sanskrit verse. <pre data-block="quote">"The sum of two fortunes is a fortune; of two debts, a debt; a fortune and an equal debt make zero." — Brahmagupta, Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta 18.30 (628 CE)</pre>