The other day a bizarre question popped into my mind: Is zero a number? On one level, the answer is obviously yes. Zero is not a letter, a flower, or a molecule. It is in the class of things we call numbers. While zero might be considered a number for classification purposes, does it truly exist in the real world? While I can point to three eggs and say, “Here are three eggs,” I cannot point to some X and say, “Here are zero Xs.” Zero does not correspond to anything in reality, because zero signifies the absence of reality. To say one has zero eggs is just a mathematical way of saying one does not have any eggs.
Of course, the same could be said of negative numbers like -1, -5, or -100. These numbers have no correlates in the real world. You will never find -5 apples. Negative numbers exist only in the mind. Of course, the same could be said of all numbers. While I can point to three eggs, five cows, or 17 cups, in none of these cases will I have located the numbers 3, 5, or 17. I will have only found instances in which a specific numerical value is exemplified by particular objects.
Thinking to Believe 