In Science
In mathematics, many sequences of numbers or of polynomials are indexed by nonnegative integers, for example the Bernoulli numbers and the Bell numbers.
The zeroth law of thermodynamics was formulated after the first, second, and third laws, but considered more fundamental, hence its name.
In biology, an organism is said to have zero order intentionality if it shows "no intention of anything at all". This would include a situation where the organism's genetically predetermined phenotype results in a fitness benefit to itself, because it did not "intend" to express its genes. In the similar sense, a computer may be considered from this perspective a zero order intentional entity as it does not "intend" to express the code of the programs it runs.
In biological or medical experiments, initial measurements made before any experimental time has passed are said to be on the 0 day of the experiment.
Patient zero (or index case) is the initial patient in the population sample of an epidemiological investigation.
Read more about this topic: Zero-based Numbering
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“Consider the China pride and stagnant self-complacency of mankind. This generation inclines a little to congratulate itself on being the last of an illustrious line; and in Boston and London and Paris and Rome, thinking of its long descent, it speaks of its progress in art and science and literature with satisfaction.... It is the good Adam contemplating his own virtue.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Science is facts. Just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts. But a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.”
—Jules Henri Poincare (1854–1912)