Zero-based Numbering - in Other Fields

In Other Fields

In the realm of fiction, Isaac Asimov eventually added a Zeroth Law to his Three Laws of Robotics, essentially making them four laws.

The year zero does not exist in the widely used Gregorian calendar or in its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Under those systems, the year 1 BC is followed by AD 1. However, there is a year zero in astronomical year numbering (where it coincides with the Julian year 1 BC) and in ISO 8601:2004 (where it coincides with the Gregorian year 1 BC) as well as in all Buddhist and Hindu calendars.

Some buildings in the British English speaking world refer to the ground floor as floor 0. This makes a consistent set with underground floors marked with negative numbers. Notice that, for buildings with subterranean stories, this labeling scheme is asymmetric. The asymmetry is apparent when the building has the same number of stories both above and below the street surface.

While the ordinal of 0 is rarely used outside of communities closely connected to mathematics, physics, and computer science, there are a few instances in classical music. The composer Anton Bruckner regarded his early Symphony in D minor to be unworthy of including in the canon of his works, and he wrote 'gilt nicht' on the score and a circle with a crossbar, intending it to mean "invalid". But posthumously, this work came to be known as Symphony No. 0 in D minor, even though it was actually written after Symphony No. 1 in C minor. There is an even earlier Symphony in F minor of Bruckner's that is sometimes called No. 00. The Russian composer Alfred Schnittke also wrote a Symphony No. 0.

In some universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, "week 0" or occasionally "noughth week" refers to the week before the first week of lectures in a term. In Australia, some universities refer to this as "O Week", which serves as a pun on "orientation week". As a parallel, the introductory weeks at university educations in Sweden are generally called "nollning" (zeroing).

The United States Air Force starts basic training each Wednesday, and the first week (of eight) is considered to begin with the following Sunday. The four days before that Sunday are often referred to as "Zero Week."

Note also the use of 00 hours in the 24-hour clock as beginning of the day.

In London King's Cross, Uppsala, Yonago, Edinburgh Haymarket and Cardiff the train stations have a platform 0.

Robert Crumb's drawings for the first issue of Zap Comix were stolen, so he drew a whole new issue which was published as issue 1. Later he re-inked his photocopies of the stolen artwork and published it as issue 0.

The ring road around Brussels is called R0. It was built after the ring road around Antwerp, but Brussels (being the capital city) was deemed deserving of a more basic number.

In Formula One, when a defending world champion does not compete in the following season, the number 1 is not assigned to any driver, but one driver of the world champion team will carry the number 0, and the other, number 2. This did happen both in 1993 and 1994 with Damon Hill carrying the number 0 in both seasons, as defending champion Nigel Mansell quit after 1992, and defending champion Alain Prost quit after 1993.

A chronological prequel of a series may be numbered as 0, such as Ring 0: Birthday or Zork Zero.