<P> Ancient Egyptian numerals were base 10 . They used hieroglyphs for the digits and were not positional . By 1770 BC , the Egyptians had a symbol for zero in accounting texts . The symbol nfr , meaning beautiful , was also used to indicate the base level in drawings of tombs and pyramids and distances were measured relative to the base line as being above or below this line . </P>
when was zero first used in mathematical operations
By 1770 BC