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Limits RegistryBabylonian mathematicians, working in a base-60 (sexagesimal) positional number system, developed a consistent placeholder symbol for an empty position by around 300 BCE, with more sporadic precursor use extending back several centuries earlier — one of the earliest known uses of a zero-like placeholder, though it was not yet treated as a number that could be added, subtracted, or manipulated on its own, a development credited to Indian mathematicians centuries later.
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Babylonian mathematicians, working in a base-60 (sexagesimal) positional number system, developed a consistent placeholder symbol for an empty position by around 300 BCE, with more sporadic precursor use extending back several centuries earlier — one of the earliest known uses of a zero-like placeholder, though it was not yet treated as a number that could be added, subtracted, or manipulated on its own, a development credited to Indian mathematicians centuries later.
The approximate date of the earliest known consistent use of a symbol as a placeholder for an empty position within a positional (place-value) number system, distinct from the later development of zero as a number in its own right.
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Permanent ID limitsregistry.com/limits/LR-EARLIEST-USE-OF-ZERO-PLACEHOLDER
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Limits Registry. LR-EARLIEST-USE-OF-ZERO-PLACEHOLDER. Earliest known use of a zero placeholder in a positional number system. 2026.