What’s the value of nothing? 

When you denote that nothing with a symbol — say, “0” — it suddenly becomes very valuable. 

That’s the message in this video from The Well, an interview with Dr. Talithia Williams, professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. 

In it, Williams describes how this humble symbol of nothingness that we call Zero has had an outsized impact on the development of mathematics. 

“Before zero was a part of mathematics, we didn’t have a need to quantify nothing,” she says. 

Zero aided the evolution of mathematics into a language capable of grappling with tough questions— such as, what is less than zero? 

“By giving ourselves permission to sit and ponder about nothingness and to give it structure, to give it a value—we also give ourselves permission as a society to think about hard things and complex things.” 

Enjoy her exploration of zero here.