Guys who have scant respect for
zero are the astronomers. For them
a few dozen zeros more or less
make no difference. They deal with
astronomical figures (the pun was
not intended). For instance they
claim that the Andromeda Galaxy is
23,000,000,000,000,000,000 km
away. Give or take a few zeros!
Since it is humanly impossible to
deal with so many zeros in
commonparlance, the astrologers,
to make our life easier, say that the
same Galaxy is 2.3 million light
years away. And a light year is the
distance light can travel in one year.
And light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 km each second.
Just wondering how long it will take before I get to see the galaxy
without the aid of a giant telescope.
Of all the mathematical symbols the
zero is the most elegant and sensual.
The triangle has sharp points, and the
square is, well, square. The zero
represents the perfect circle.