Editing 0 (section)

===Pre-Columbian Americas===
[[File:Cero maya.svg|thumb|Maya numeral zero]]
The [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar]] developed in south-central Mexico and Central America required the use of zero as a placeholder within its [[vigesimal]] (base-20) positional numeral system. Many different glyphs, including the partial [[quatrefoil]] were used as a zero symbol for these Long Count dates, the earliest of which (on Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo, [[Chiapas]]) has a date of 36&nbsp;BC.{{efn|No long count date actually using the number 0 has been found before the 3rd century AD, but since the long count system would make no sense without some placeholder, and since Mesoamerican glyphs do not typically leave empty spaces, these earlier dates are taken as indirect evidence that the concept of 0 already existed at the time.}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cyclical views of time |url=https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/calendar/cyclical-views-of-time |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=www.mexicolore.co.uk}}</ref>

Since the eight earliest Long Count dates appear outside the Maya homeland,{{sfnp|Diehl|2004| p= 186}} it is generally believed that the use of zero in the Americas predated the Maya and was possibly the invention of the [[Olmec]]s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mortaigne |first=Véronique |date=28 November 2014 |title=The golden age of Mayan civilisation – exhibition review |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/28/mayan-civilisation-paris-exhibition |url-status=live |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128222215/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/28/mayan-civilisation-paris-exhibition |archive-date=28 November 2014}}</ref> Many of the earliest Long Count dates were found within the Olmec heartland, although the Olmec civilization ended by the {{nowrap|4th century BC}},<ref>{{Citation |last=Cyphers |first=Ann |title=The Olmec, 1800–400 BCE |date=2014 |work=The Cambridge World Prehistory |pages=1005–1025 |editor-last=Renfrew |editor-first=Colin |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-world-prehistory/olmec-1800400-bce/2C66AF7B3D041260EE2BFC94DF085029 |access-date=2024-08-13 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-11993-1 |editor2-last=Bahn |editor2-first=Paul}}.</ref> several centuries before the earliest known Long Count dates.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Expedition Magazine {{!}} Time, Kingship, and the Maya Universe Maya Calendars |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/time-kingship-and-the-maya-universe-maya-calendars/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |magazine=Expedition Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Although zero became an integral part of [[Maya numerals]], with a different, empty [[tortoise]]-like "[[Plastron|shell shape]]" used for many depictions of the "zero" numeral, it is assumed not to have influenced [[Old World]] numeral systems.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

[[Quipu]], a knotted cord device, used in the [[Inca Empire]] and its predecessor societies in the [[Andes|Andean]] region to record accounting and other digital data, is encoded in a [[decimal|base ten]] positional system. Zero is represented by the absence of a knot in the appropriate position.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leon |first=Manuel de |date=2022-12-20 |title=Knots representing numbers: The mathematics of the Incas |url=https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-12-20/knots-representing-numbers-the-mathematics-of-the-incas.html |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=EL PAÍS English |language=en-us}}</ref>