"Well," said Waldron, "nothing is a number, and it is odd."
"O Waldron!" said Rollo, "it is not any number at all. Besides, if it is a number, it is not odd—it is even."
"Yes," said Waldron, "it is a number, for you can add it, and subtract it, and multiply it, and divide it, just as you can any other number."
"O Waldron!" exclaimed Rollo again. "You can't do any such thing."
ODD OR EVEN.
"Yes," said Waldron, "I can add nothing to one, and it makes one. So, I can take nothing away from one, and it leaves one.
"I can multiply nothing, too. I can multiply it by ten. Ten times nothing are nothing. So I can divide it. Five in nothing no times, and nothing over."
Rollo was somewhat perplexed by this argument, and he did not know what to reply. Still he would not admit that nothing was a number—still less that it was an odd number. He did not believe, he said, that it was any number at all. The boys continued the discussion[A] for some time, and then they concluded to go and refer it to Mr. George.