Surprise

The things you learn in small town, 6- page newspapers.  I never gave the birth of the number 0 any thoughts.  Now I learned, it was born in India, invented actually by a mathematician as early as the 5th century.  They used it in calculations, astronomy and astrology. Zero was spread by Arabians to Europe and from there on it spread all over. 
Before this, Europeans used  roman numerals, which were difficult to calculate on as they were in form of symbols, lengthy and had limits.
From this information I decided I wanted to see a little more about the earlier systems, especially the roman numerals, which to my knowledge would not go beyond a symbol for 1000 - the  'M". Of course, they may not have had millionaires, billionaires, etc. so may not have needed them - lol. But my check on the vast internet showed some more interesting facts.  For example the number 1732 would be denoted MDCCXXXII in Roman numerals. But the Romans numerals are not purely additive number systems. So instead of using 4 symbols for IIII, 40 - XXXX, etc. such numbers are instead denoted by preceding symbols for 5, 50, etc. and placing a symbols in front to denote a deduction. 4=IV, 40=XL.
This practice of placing smaller symbols before larger ones for subtraction was hardly ever followed by the Romans and came into popularity in Europe after the invention of the printing press.

But, the Romans did deal in huge numbers after all, so they must have had millionaires, etc. - by placing a partial frame around numbers, like a picture frame, with bottom side open. This would make a I into 100,000, a II into 200,000, a X into 1,000,000 (ten hundred thousands), a C into a 10,000,000, etc.

But for the number one thousand, the Romans would not use the M, but instead wrote (I), for two thousand (I)(I), etc.  And occasionally the wrote IM, IIM, etc.. Then in the middle ages the use of M became quite common.  And the Romans sometimes used multiple parentheses to denote nested multiplications by 10 such  as (I) for 1,000; ((I)) for 10,000, (((I))) for 100,000 etc.. They also had some other ways of symbol usages, all of which makes us think it was terribly cumbersome.  No wonder someone finally came up with the Arabic number system, avoiding the use of a full page just for a multiplication.  All this and more on numbers on the Internet.  A worthwhile and interesting use of the net. And it makes one realize how advanced though the ancient world was.And how important our zero is, even if we don't like it, when it refers to our bank account balances.