I DO NOT GET THIS!!!!!!!!! HOW COULD YOU MULTIPLY WITH LINES AND ALL THAT JUNK!?!?!??! You do know there is an EASIER method of multiplying that you probable learned in 3rd or 2nd grade RIGHT?!!?!?

Yes I understand. Still though, credit goes to your country for many things, as told and written by westerners in their history books and so on. I understand that the zero that is currently used is that which was handed down from that side of the world. All I am saying is that the Maya had their own thing happening, and that they had a (zero) symbol with all the meanings and applications. They were also subjected to invasion by Europe (Spain, France and then the USA, once established by the British colonists of northern America). The Spanish burned many Maya books, supposedly. I believe many of the books were actually hidden, but no one is saying a word. The Vatican probably has those books hidden in the catacombs underneath St. Peters. Who really knows what was learned from the Maya? The age of enlightenment, industrial revolution and major food cuisines were all possible once America was so-called discovered. Without the help of the Native American, our USA would not be here today.

May many blessings be upon your people and to all people of the world!!! :)

Mario, its not that simple. Every one claims that he or his xyz invented something if the invented thing is of remote past.

If you watch hollywood movies, there is a movie called "event horizon" which portrays a journey to event horizon ( boundary between blackhole and this world)and what happens there. Now, Consider this case: this world gets devastated completely in 2012 ( as per MAYAN prediction) and a complete new civilization of human (or any other animal) comes into being. they develop in due course of time and discover this movie. If they see movie, what would they think? that humans have been to event horizon??

there are several other examples of Indians doing some discovery before westerners did but the name goes to Westerner guy. maybe this happened with other nationalities as well. The attitude of western countries is bad. they are just like a robber who can not see the wealth or money in possession of someone else.

It is just the recent past , about 500years, that America and western countries flourishing. Before that ? if you dig deep in history, before Britishers came to India, India had 25% of the wealth of the world, when Britishers left India, India was having 4% of the wealth of the world. Its another example of the robbery by the west.

I am not trying to conclude about zero as its a debatable issue in absence of unbiased recorded history. again, I am using the unbiased, because there are several instances in which History of India has been presented by westerners after distortion.

Much of the antipathy towards Indians stems from, in my opinion, the fact that 'religion' of (majority of) indians is Hinduism. The muslims and christians came in hordes to india to rob and convert the religion of indians, but they could not succeed. this defeat in the past, not being able to convert, must be pinching them. But they have to learn to live with it as Indians have adapted to so many things.

Oh and by the way, unlike the one guy named Aryabhatta, the whole Maya people had this symbol/concept firmly implanted within their society. The shell symbol shows up in many, many places meaning it was in wide and common use all over ancient Mexico. The first mention is from a stelae dating to 36 bce, although this will probably change, as more sites are being found every day. Literally thousands of sites are everywhere throughout the region just waiting to be discovered. Who knows if the date will be pushed back much much further, or if it already has been?

Arybhatta, being one person, proposed this idea to the India(n) people, who did not completely grasp its meaning, as a whole society, until much later. Absolutely, he was a great genius!

The Maya as a whole society had this idea/concept/symbol firmly implanted in their entire society by at least 36 bce.

The word zero originated from French. The concept originated with the Maya. The Indians (India) happened to come up with what the Maya knew oh so long before. Since Europe had been hit with an ignorant spell, they indeed borrowed much from the Arabs, who in turn borrowed from India and China and Babylon. Yes, the Arabs brought the concept and design to Europe and vise versa (not a one way street),... but the Maya had their own concept and symbol long before anyone else had rationalized its potential.

The guy in the video is only talking about our common usage of numbers and where and how they were handed down. The system for tens is not unlike the system for twenties. Some say the twenties system is better. Just because Europe has been counting with tens doesn't mean that zero (the concept) was created by the Indians first. Just because we call a shirt a shirt doesn't mean that whoever invented the word is the creator of the design. Shirt being an English word, would mean the English originated the shirt. We know this not to be true, because shirts have been around longer than England has been England. So who did invent the shirt? If English shirts become the most popular, we may be tempted to think they did invent them. Same goes for the zero... just because the common usage is from a certain area, doesn't mean the design came from there first.

How was that?

Mario and others,

Please check below when you get a chance.. This video talks about both Mayan's and Indian's number system..

http://www.ehow.com/video_4754357_who-invented-number-zero.html

Thank you
Praveen

One very interesting note: Gandhi (misspelled above) influenced many American Equal Rights' activists such as Cesar Chavez, who helped found the United Farm Workers' Union. Because of Cesar's approach of peaceful rallying and marches, people all over the country were more receptive to the cause of the farm worker. From humility, non violence, and the belief in the God given measure to have equal rights, theirs was one of many victories. Mexico had lost much of her land to the USA. Her people were caught in both places at the same time in a struggle of determination and the will to advance beyond the turmoil of such loss. Mexico had just gained her independence from Spain, then France tried to conquer her next,... forty five years, or so later, the USA with her Manifest Destiny came along and took her most northern lands. The Mexican laborer/ranchero/vaquero has been a part of the landscape since the beginning. They have been tending to the fields since then. They have also been the maids, the janitors, the construction workers, the restaurant help for many generations in the southwest, and elsewhere. They are essential to our common goal of growth. Cesar Chavez helped in a very big way to define their role, and especially to peacefully fight for their rights in this ever changing country called, The United States Of America! Pacal (misspelled in previous post), along with Gandhi, also influenced Cesar, as did the great Maya stories of Gods and Kings, and heroes! Since the USA was and still is the bread basket of our world, one can understand how important Cesar's work truly was, and still is! Amen to that!

What Mayan forecast do you speak of by the way? We are a world, with or without a forecast, in crisis! For some reason the Maya calendar ends on this date in 2012. The significance is mainly due to certain celestial events which will happen to occur on or around that time. That date is highly significant in many astrologer's predictions, as well. Some people go as far as saying we will be bombarded with a cosmic energy which will eminate from our galactic core. When this energy arrives, we will be changed. Others are insisting that the Maya predicted that our present age, or world will end in earthquakes, mudslides, and volcanoes. Still others say, all of man's (and women's) accumulated knowledge will come to a head, possibly creating a scenario whereby we may know more than is for our own good, thus tipping the balance toward destruction. Most of these things are only predictions, nothing more. The proof will be in the pudding, as they say. We will see. In the meantime, we can all pitch in to save our planet now, before anything plays out. What of global warming, is it a hoax? What of our unpredictable Sun, do we even know for sure what this variable star has in store for us on a daily basis? Do we know what effects helios has on earth which may contribute to more than just warmth, and other such needs. what if our sun is responsible for far more than what we know? Mostly likely is.

Ghandi was a man who brought peace to the world of the Indian first, and then to the others. He brought more than zero fortunately for the masses who needed more than mere calculations. They needed a plan to be rid of the suppressors of their culture. Through his position of non violence, and fortitude of the right of the Indian in his/her own homeland, he was able to form a human chain to freedom!

Pakal was an equally wonderful person. He became king when he was only twelve. he was a master in astronomy, arts and sciences of his time. The accuracy of the Maya calculation for a year is without a doubt of great significance. No other ancient people were able to achieve such aclaim with regards to utter accuracy as the Maya in this calculation. Their calendar is much more accurate than our modern day one. Their predictions for eclipses are unparalled, as is their understanding of the cycles of Venus, etc. More and more is being studied about them as time goes by. This is very important work because unlike what happened in India, many of the Maya were destroyed through diseases brought from Europe, etc. The European wanted their land, and not just as a colony. They knocked everything down and supposedly burned all the books! Although, I suspect many of the books were actually secretly taken and hidden, perhaps by the Vatican, etc., to be studied. It is no wonder the age of enlightenment, industrial revolution, and the expansion and growth of major populations was achievable. With the abundance of new foods of high nutritional value such as potatoes, corn, peanuts, beans, avocados, chili peppers, chocolate, squash, etc., with the abundance of all natural resources, with the rubber for tires, with cache of many new medicines, and gold and silver, these conquerers went wild at their new prospects. From living in fuedalistic societies, they now were able to settle down as true citizens of their world. Unfortunately for the Natives, they were displaced by horrors worse than the holocaust. Their story is of the worst genocide in the history of the world. But now, we are all integrated in the modern world. Thank God and all powers for that. May we all be at peace!!!

just waiting to see mayan forecast about 21 dec 2012... after which the world wouldn't be any more

Aryabhatta (476-550 A.D.) was born in Patliputra in Magadha, modern Patna in Bihar. Many are of the view that he was born in the south of India especially Kerala and lived in Magadha at the time of the Gupta rulers; time which is known as the golden age of India. There is no evidence that he was born outside Patliputra and traveled to Magadha, the centre of education and learning for his studies where he even set up a coaching centre. His first name "Arya" is hardly a south Indian name while "Bhatt" (or Bhatta) is a typical north Indian name even found today specially among the "Bania" (or trader) community.

Whatever this origin, it cannot be argued that he lived in Patliputra where he wrote his famous treatise the "Aryabhatta-siddhanta" but more famously the "Aryabhatiya", the only work to have survived. It contains mathematical and astronomical theories that have been revealed to be quite accurate in modern mathematics. For instance he wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8 then added to 62,000 then divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). But his greatest contribution has to be zero. His other works include algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, quadratic equations and the sine table.

He already knew that the earth spins on its axis, the earth moves round the sun and the moon rotates round the earth. He talks about the position of the planets in relation to its movement around the sun. He refers to the light of the planets and the moon as reflection from the sun. He goes as far as to explain the eclipse of the moon and the sun, day and night, the contours of the earth, the length of the year exactly as 365 days.
He even computed the circumference of the earth as 24835 miles which is close to modern day calculation of 24900 miles.

This remarkable man was a genius and continues to baffle many mathematicians of today. His works was then later adopted by the Greeks and then the Arabs.

hey this site is boring as hell and who made this website but good information

We are already going through a major world wide change. This cannot be denied. We are headed for greatness. We are under construction!!! Zero is the number we are aiming towards on the great mayan calendar clock. New Orleans, Haiti, Sumatra, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami. Wars adding up. Conflicts everywhere. Terror. Hopefully this new Solar maximum will not destroy our satellite grid. It has just recently begun and already Haiti has fallen. Perhaps there isn't a correlation, but who knows. The sun spot was directly facing Haiti, in a near exact pattern shaped like the Islands with the exact center part of the spot exactly (had it been a map) where Port Au Prince was when the quake struck. Simultaneously, a solar hole was releasing great amounts of particles our way from somewhere near the bottom, facing us, as noted by the spectacular Auroras at that time. Yes, it sounds fantastic, but who knows? Our sun is responsible for all of life as we know it, including nearly everything else in our system.

One only has to watch Nancy Grace on CNN to see what monstrosities are happening as a phenom in various parts of our country. Internationally, we had terror in Mumbai, terror in Israel, Somalia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, U.S.A., Central and South America, China, Europe, Korea, Philippeans, etc. Global warming, global economic meltdowns, etc. I hope we make it passed 2012. I hope we stop the madness soon!!!

Oh well, year 2012 will tell how correct Mayans were !!

sof wrote: #
This information is false, zero was invented by the mayans. You can search for it in a mexican history book.

well sir i would lk to tell u
zero was indeed invented by indians....an indian astronomer n mathematics Arayabatta.....it can be found in vedas..the scientific knowledge of indian scripts......

Did you know what the Natives of the Americas gave to our world? The peanut, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, cocaine, aspirin (from the willow), avocados, corn, rubber, almost every bean, except for a few like the lentil. They gave sweet potatoes, zucchinis, chili peppers and tequila! Without these foods, our major world culinaries would be bland. with out rubber, there could be no modern transportation, etc. We all have much to share, and have been doing so for many, many years. For this I am grateful!

hey mario!

gr8 dude!
i am proud 2 be an indian!
cause we d ones introducing zero!
cool na!

I am sure India is a great country. I never said it wasn't, but so is every other country in so many different ways. Let's be friends and discover each of our good things in common. I am sure there are a lot of them. The greatest thing in all human language and experience is LOVE; that we can not disagree about. I will chose to LOVE all, so I can be a rich person inside. Thank you for the information, I will look into it further. The Europeans (I am half) cme and took the land from the Natives(I am half as well) of the Americas, too. We can only love them and try to get along. The great Native Chiefs said the Europeans were our lost brothers and sisters who would eventually find their way back to the fold of being human. They have come a long way since, and will continue to do so even if they have to put us all through another great catastrophic world war. In the aftermath, we will see what happens next.

There is good and bad in all countries. Hopefully India and Pakistan won't fight against each other, as so many go after the capitalistic venture. Perhaps India and Pakistan will become good neighbors. God bless to everyone! I do enjoy Indian food when I can find a good restaurant. Peace!

Sorry for the misspelt words Mr.mario...... and im sorry to say this mario, elston, charles, you people have to know something about the GREAT INDIA. you people should know that the world's famous language english was derived from SANSKRIT which is also called as deva lipi. About the invention of rocket Mr.mario you better go to NASA and see the picture of TIPPU SULTHAN the pic shows that TIPPU SULTHAN invented the first rocket. And elston said that we are ruled by europeans it is right but it was happened because europeans came to INDIA for their livelyhood and as they were cunning they made us their slaves and because of our helping nature we faced many problems. And once check in wikipedia about greatest kings of INDIA they are KARNA, sibhichakravarthi and karna was given a title that is DHAANA VEERA SURA KARNA. ok even mayans invented many things i accept it because you have proofs to show them. Our ancient kings use to roam in choppers as they invented them before the world but we dont have proofs. they had invented the planes with the help of a book named "VIMANA SASHTRA". ANd elston asked me about the famous people in INDIA i dont think that even 1TB of your hard disk is not sufficient for the list. And Mr.Elston you have no rigth to comment about r country. you are not suppose to say that India is a good for nothing........ how do u know that. we indians constitute 1/3 of world's population.

A enjoying comments from all and informative too.......
carry on your research friends...

nahibe mario tu tha waha pe tera baap hi to 0 zero invent kiya hai

abe jo bhi ho hame kya lena

Are you indian? Were you there? Did you see and validate first hand? Since India is all about reincarnation, perhaps you were? Zero (not the word) started out concurrently, in two phases: As a product of the indescribable, from an abstract knowing of eternity, or to simply mean nothing, eventually was formulated philosophically. Mathematically, it evolved to alleviate the buildup of numbers on a tablet. Together they work wonderfully. Who would have guessed that a zero added to a two would mean twenty? Put twenty objects in a room and you have twenty objects sans the zero. If you want to put one hundred objects in the room, it becomes overly crowded, so a zero comes in quite handily... but truly truly, the room is the zero, if you can conceptualize that? Are you going to tell me that "Indians oonly invented zero" with that kind of a problem probably hitting every accountants desk since day one? I highly doubt it. Even in Europe where they say, they had no such concept till they ripped it off from Arabia, they must have had something stirring to represent the dilemma, only they were in too much bloody conflict, and probably lost it. Their concept may have ended up in India for all you know, where it was expounded on, then later returned to Europe, where it eventually evolved, yet again. Obviously zero is still evolving, just like everything; probably coming back to its original design. The modern day word zero may have originated from sphr, or so; and even what we use today to represent zero, as a circle, may have come from someplace in India, but the original concept as both a placeholder and number, represented by a symbol, came first to the Maya/Olmec, as far as we know. They used a shell, which is an empty place that can either remain empty, or be filled, and they used it quite remarkably in their sciences. There is not one ancient Indian Calendar as precise as the Maya calendar, which baffles scientists to this day. Were they related to India? Who knows? The calendar is the greatest practical construct besides clothes and tools for food, because it brings unity to a people when they are scattered, based upon positions of heavenly and earthly bodies. Use common sense and you will understand the world. G*D and zero are quite related. I say G*D and zero are one!

Indians oonly invented zero. In ancient india tahe term used to describe sero included Pujyam, Shunyam, Bindu or Sifr and shubra... these are the terms also in sanskrit.. so indians only invent zero

your statement is absolutely wrong..