/sci/ - Science & Math

Among the many topics in mathematics that cause controversy between the community, one of many is the question whether 0 is a natural number or not. In my undergrad algebra classes, it was always a topic to comment on. Specially when we were learning about Logic and the ZF or Peano axioms.

Historically, the number zero appears much later than any other natural number. Some civilizations like the Romans used numeration systems that lacked the 0, for example. It makes much more sense that it appeared along the integers whenever you subtracted a number with itself (or you added a number with its opposite). Yet still a lot of mathematicians accept the number zero as a natural. Proofs and axioms are being written with this information, sometimes because they can be much easier this way.

What does /sci/ think about it? Is it a natural number? Or should it be considered an integer?