Ironically, the number “0 (Zero)” is the foundation of the modern world.

Infinite possibilities and riches emerged from zero, it also powers the internet economy. Let’s explore the story of numbers, a complex narrative simplified.

Let’s start from the beginning

The ancient Indian texts explored the concept of nonexistence and existence, the continuum from nothingness (“Shunyata”) to infinite (“Ananta”).

Nirvana (Singularity) ensues when you realize everything in between is an illusion (“Maya”).

Brahmagupta, an ancient Indian Mathematician was more interested in the practical application of philosophical concepts.

Shunya (Zero) as a Number: Perhaps Brahmagupta's most famous contribution is his treatment of zero as a number. He recognized and introduced zero as a numerical digit and included it in arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

The decimal system aligns well with human counting and everyday experience. We naturally count in groups of ten (using our ten fingers), which makes the decimal system a natural fit for our cognitive processes. This compatibility led to widespread acceptance and laid the foundation for the development of the modern-day decimal system.

The decimal system is highly scalable and adaptable. It allows for the representation of both small and large numbers by using additional digits as needed. This scalability to large quantities revolutionized finance, science, and engineering.

Remarkably, the modern-day internet’s cybersecurity is built on arithmetic rules devised by Brahmagupta – “The one-way function”.

The RSA encryption protocol is most commonly used to secure online transactions. The RSA algorithm exploits the fact that while it is very easy to multiply two large prime numbers, no one has yet discovered an efficient way for a classical computer to perform the calculation in reverse

Example:
163 x 149 = 24,287

Imagine we were working with very large prime numbers much bigger, it is easy to multiply two numbers . . . but it turns out that finding the original numbers given only the result is very difficult to do, even for powerful computers.

This tricky reverse operation is known as prime factorization and it underpins a system of encryption, called RSA, used across the internet.

Our transactions are secured by 256-digit long numbers, it will probably take more than 1000 years for present-day classical computers to compute the prime factorization of 512-digit numbers.

Even modern-day supercomputers are incapable of performing reverse operations for very large numbers.

The one-way function also powers blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

But Quantum computing could break the 256-digit encryption and that is a topic for another day.

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