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1. What caused the USS Yorktown to have a computer meltdown in 1997, according to the author in Chapter 0, “Null and Void”? How is the ship described?

The USS Yorktown was a test bed for the Navy’s Smart Ship program. It was equipped with 27 dual 200 MHz Pentium Pro machines. The ship came to a halt in 1997 because a programming error had forced the computer to attempt to divide by zero which caused its systems to crash.

2. What is the focus of the book, as established by the author in Chapter 0, “Null and Void”?

The book is the story of zero, from its ancient birth, to its threat to modern physics. Zero is infinity's twin and invites similar fascination. Zero lies at the heart of many great battles and yet no one has ever mastered it. Instead, it has deeply shaped human history and human ideas.

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