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Full Idea
It is a chicken-and-egg problem, whether the lack of zero forced forced classical mathematicians to rely mostly on a geometric approach to mathematics, or the geometric approach made 0 a meaningless concept, but the two remain strongly tied together.
Gist of Idea
Either lack of zero made early mathematics geometrical, or the geometrical approach made zero meaningless
Source
Brian Clegg (Infinity: Quest to Think the Unthinkable [2003], Ch. 6)
Book Ref
Clegg,Brian: 'Infinity' [Robinson 2003], p.61