Why Is Zero a Number?

Imagine you have a box of cookies. If you eat them all, what is left? Zero. It is not just 'nothing'; it is a real thing. Think of zero like an empty chair at a party. The chair is still there even if no one sits in it. Zero acts as a placeholder. Without zero, we could not write big numbers. For example, 10 is very different from 1. The zero holds the spot for the ones place. It is also the additive identity. This means if you add zero to any number, the number stays the same. Zero is the starting line in a race. It is the point where you begin to count up or count down. It is a real number because it follows all the same rules as other numbers. You can multiply by it, divide by it (mostly), and subtract it. Zero is the anchor of our number system.