Zero is Greater Than Nothing
Posted: Wednesday, January 14, 2009
by Jeff Brown
Inner Projection
Zero is an arithmetic hero,
Superman, Captain Fantastic,
Mr. Numerical rolled into one.
Zorro only a phoneme away and
look how the people loved him!
Billion, trillion, zillion are muscular
abstractions, movie stars in LA.
Nothing brings you back to earth,
to humble mirth like zero. But zero
is much greater than nothing. Before it
1 through 9 existed for hundreds of years.
Did they get as far? Are they so complete?
9 and 6 drew close to its symmetry,
but grew tired, turned in at the belly
and gave themselves tails, that like a
tadpole or monkey. Is that so evolved?
And 8's not so great, it tried twice to relate to
zero's symmetrical singularity and failed.
Numbers were useless without zero, only
employed to keep track of chickens and debts.
And what rhymes for 1 through 9 like hero?
He who keeps 600 from being 594 less.
My paycheck re-soundly thanks you, zero!
Zero, everything but stupid, planned
its appearance with cunning and calm.
Avoided Europe for hundreds of years.
The marketing strategy paying off big.
Overnight arithmetic went from counting beans
to the Queen of Math. Zero staked its claim,
became gatekeeper to positive and negative,
took on biblical proportions as the
origin of coordinate systems,
genesis to gardens of graphs,
completed algebra, enabled calculus to breathe.
genesis to gardens of graphs,
completed algebra, enabled calculus to breathe.
Without it engineering, technological feats
forever-trapped inside dreams.
No Empire State, computer, relativity,
quantum leap. No Apollo, SS Enterprise,
pocket protector geeks.
So, next time someone calls you a zero.
Take a moment to think of all that it means
Take a moment to think of all that it means
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)NIce job!If I could rhyme, it would be sublime. But my words are so thorny, not to mention--corny...Ok, I'll stop, as I've already hurt myself.Ken,
Thanks for the laugh and thanks for stopping by.
'Cunning and calm' is exactly what this article is. Very well done!Mike,
Thanks for saying so.
Hi Jeff.This is great! Loved it!DianneDianne,
Thanks. Just thought I'd put some of the old poetry in to express my column theme.
Thanks for reading.
I loved it too. KristinThanks, Kristin.
You are such a hoot! Thanks for your commentary...& the very useful suggestion! I'll remember next time...oh, wait. I don't guess I've ever been called a zero. Maybe something to aspire to? LOL...thanks, Jeff.This one's for all those losers out there (haven't we all been there at some time?) who need a little perspective.
Wow Jeff, you've got me wanting to earn the rank of ZERO. Thanks for a brilliant use of diction. It reads like a brand new literary invention. No kidding, it is. ~mogama~Thanks, Mogama. Appreciate the comment and you taking the time to read. Thanks again.
Thinking of the number 0. Here is a question for you. What is 1 divided by zero.Anyway, good poem. What a strange topic for a poem.Hey, no math questions professor. The topic came upon reading a book on the history of math. Since I read just about everything (science, math, history, politics, business) it's great fodder for the muse. Thanks for reading.
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