WI: A Roman Zero

Well, the concept of zero began to appears in India in Classical times, but I think it took a while before it was really formalized and widesrpead.
Even for China, that was closer, it took a similar time to really impose itself.

So, I'd think transmission trough Indias is a bit too unplausible, even if a less strong Persia could have meant stronger commercial relationship between Indias and Rome, and possibly culturally-wise.

Now, what could be more doable would be having a zero, not as a number, but as a vacant position as it nearly was during the imperial era on Greek numeral script (latin numeral script ignored it, and was frankly not really fit for mathematicals subtilities).
I suppose we could see such use blossoming by the Late Empire (especially trough administrative and fiscal needs) and *maybe* evolving later (principally trough indian influence) to a true zero.
 
There were placeholder zeros used in accounting in ancient Egypt (symbol "nfr") and as part of bigger numerals in Babylonia, where, by 700 BCE, a special symbol had been developped instead of using blanks to indicate them, the same holds true for precolumbian numeral systems in the Americas. But they were never used alone or as a mathematical value, it was not before late antiquity (5th to 6th century CE) that it was first used in India in such a way.
 
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