Madam, – The number zero has been officially demoted by the Government.
For many years past, mathematics textbooks published for certificate examinations in Ireland have defined zero to be a natural number. I note, however, that in the latest issue of Mathematical Formulae and Tables issued by Government Publications, zero is no longer deemed to be natural.
At a time when figures which contain large quantities of zeros are bandied about daily in Government circles, it seems ironic that this well-rounded figure finds itself out in the cold.
Bring back zero I say. In fact, bring everything back to zero. – Yours, etc,