Aryabhata and the Invention of Zero

Aryabhata, the great Indian mathematician and astronomer, was born around 476 CE. In his treatise Aryabhatiya written in 499 CE, he gave the value of π as 3.1416, described the rotation of the Earth on its own axis, and used a positional number system implying zero as a placeholder. The full invention of zero as a number — not just a placeholder but a quantity in its own right — came from India, transforming all of mathematics and eventually making digital computing possible.