Talk:Null (mathematics)

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This page is wrong. Its ays that null in mathematics is treated the same as zero. That is FAR from the truth! Null and zero are NOT the same thing. Whereas it is true that the null set is the set of elements that has zero elements in it, that is not the same thing as saying that the null and zero are the same thing.

Here's an example to illustrate this:

Consider the set of numbers, A, that represents all values greater than or equal to 0; B is the set of all numbers less than or equal to 0; C is the set of all numbers that are strictly greater than 0; and D represents the set of all numbers strictly less than 0.

The intersection of A & B = {zero}.

The intersection of C & D = {null}.

Zero is a number, null is not. Therefore, they cannot pssobhly be the same thing.

Professor Jon W. Ulrich

I totally agree with the above. "null" means nothingness, the non-existence of even an empty basket called "empty basket" (a.k.a. "zero"). Nada. To be correct there should be no symbol for it. Because even the symbol on the page exists as an object. But I guess people use the Ø to indicate "nothingness". wvbaileyWvbailey 16:52, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

As a linguistics student, I also use null frequently, and it's definitely not the same thing as zero. When I get a chance, I'll try to remember to come back and work on this page so that the article reflects this discussion page. Guypersonson (talk) 18:41, 18 February 2008 (UTC)