Maths Help Needed

[ChrisKH]

Which is pretty sad really, bearing in mind what I do.

I got woken up by my son this morning with "Dad, is zero an even or odd number?" Which given the hour and complexity of the question rather threw me. Is there such a word as threw? Anyway, I rather deflected the question and asked him what he thought. He said he thought it was an even number since odd and even numbers change sequence in units of one and if you went up 1 (to 1) it would be odd, so if you went down from an odd number it must be even.

He's just six by the way. Almost something of a savant with figures. Gets it from his grandfather. Anyhoo, I have no idea if he's right or indeed if zero is a number per se. Waddya think? O-level Maths was a long time ago.

 

[Aperitif]

Which makes 'zero' tolerance very 'even'-handed!

As usual, I have no idea...

 

[cisamcgu]

0 (zero) is an even number

If you add an even number to another number, then the result is still even or odd. (i.e. the same odd/even-ness as the orginal)

i.e 5(odd) + 2(even) = 7(odd)
8(even) + 4(even) = 12(even)

Therefore, since the addition of 0 to any number doesn't change the odd/even-ness of the result, 0 must be an even number

 

[4F]

Or is zero a number at all given that it is nothing ?

 

[Dayvo]

Or is zero a number at all given that it is nothing ?

Indeed: in the same sense that black and white aren´t colours!

 

[Aperitif]

So. Given the two previous posts, 4F - when you next do a CChat ride for 100km, we'll make that 1km then.It will all be written down in er um.....for all to see.

 

[4F]

So. Given the two previous posts, 4F - when you next do a CChat ride for 100km, we'll make that 1km then.It will all be written down in er um.....for all to see.

ahh but the flaw in your theory is the that a O after a number is part of that number rather on its own being nothing. so nah

 

[Aperitif]

...told you I was rubbish - got no time for theories... "Ein stein please barman bitte" (that's German for nothing whatsoever...)

 

[StirlingCrispin]

It's even!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evenness_of_zero

 

[cisamcgu]

or to put it another way:
divide an odd number(x) by 2 and you get a remainder of 0.5

divide 0 by 2 and you don't get any remainder !

Therefore 0 is even

 

[4F]

It's even!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evenness_of_zero

aaaah, Wikipedia must be true then

 

[Twenty Inch]

Don't forget, it's not just a number, it's also a placeholder, and then it has no evenness or oddness.

 

[Night Train]

It is a very odd number indeed. It amounts to nothing but stands for a very great deal indeed.

I'd go with it being a place holder rather then an odd or even but if pushed I would say even.

 

[Kovu]

It's odd. In the fact that can it be counted as a number at all?

 

[cisamcgu]

It IS even !