The Arabs did not invent zero, the Indians did. The Arabs learned of zero while killing millions of Indians during the many Islamic invasions of India.
Wiki
The concept of zero as a digit in the decimal place value notation was developed in India, presumably as early as during the Gupta period (c. 5th century), with the oldest unambiguous evidence dating to the 7th century
The Arabs never had an orginial idea!
My bad; thanks for the FYI.
FWIW, a little parental crowing...my son started failing math in the 4th grade, and after a few teacher conferences we finally realized it was because he was bored to death. Since it was a Lutheran school and the teachers and we went to the same church, I was able to set up a compromise: son promised to do the assignments, and in return I would teach him pre-algebra. Long story short, he finished high school with calculus III, and took the advanced math summer camp for entering freshpersons at Rose-Hulman, by which point he had long left his father behind (my limit, no pun intended, was practical calculus for the MBA). He's in his 30s and a transportation planner in AZ now.
Very good. Arabs coopted through the sword what they are given credit for.