Zero - the omnipotent nought

It is tempting to look at this circular figure as hollow, signifying nothing. But look deeper, and you see it is extremely powerful.

Add more of it to an integer and the value increases ten-fold. (2, 20, 200)

Place one or many of them in the middle of a number, and the value changes depending on where you have placed and how many you have placed. (11, 101, 1001, 10101)

Indeed, its power comes from where it is. Add any number of zeros after the decimal point, and it just means nothing.

Though so powerful, it's very diplomatic and neutral too: right in the centre of the number line, neither negative nor positive. (-1, 0, +1)

For that reason, it's a good point to start over, if you have lost track, by resetting to the centre point. Think of the weighing machine.

So diplomatic, it will not be party to any situation where you have to divide something. No, you can't divide a number by zero.

At the same time, you try to raise any number to the power of zero, and you always get just one.

(This is the last post in the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2018" series. It was good fun thinking of a word and blogging on it everyday. Looking forward to next year's challenge.  To read the posts on each day of this month, there is link to them on the top of this page.)

Yawn - No, it is not boring

That sounds a bit contradictory, right? Because, that involuntary reflex action, which is famously very contagious too, is often considered the signal of tiredness and boredom.

It is also widely referred to as the most popular mysterious action of the human body. The famous expert on yawning Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said, "Yawning may have the dubious distinction of being the least understood, common human behaviour."

In June 2010, there was an International Conference on Yawning in Paris. Many scientists there said yawning need not always be an indication of only boredom. Many researchers are now saying that we might yawn if are stressed or aroused, or it could even be an erotic signal.

One theory is that the temperature of the brain rises because of excitement or stress, and yawning is a natural body mechanism to cool the brain down. But so far there is no way to distinguish which yawn is for what. That could have been quite useful in many situations!

However, there is one takeaway at least. No need to necessarily get offended if someone you are talking to yawns. The signal could be quite contrary!

(This post is a part of the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2018.")

Xerox - you see it everywhere

I first knew the process as photocopying. It used to cost some 15 times what it costs now to make a copy of something in black and white. And much more to get that done in colour.

Later, this word called Xerox began appearing on stores that ran the business of getting you photocopies of documents. When I saw that word for the first time it looked very mysterious, until i figured out that it is the name of the American company, a pioneer in the photocopying technology.

Today name of that company has become so synonymous with the process, that everyone says Xeroxing rather than photocopying. (Remember, Googling is not the first such usage.) In India, you see the word Xerox in every city and town, especially in places near educational institutions, and government and private offices.

Though soft copies and easy options to scan are available by way of apps on mobile phones, one needs to take Xerox of documents for official purposes. So, that industry is hardly threatened.

I don’t think there is any company whose name is so widely displayed in so many cities and towns, at least in India. I am not sure how popular Xerox is in other countries.

(This post is a part of the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2018.")