Socrates learns about Zeroes

The Just City - Jo Walton

"'Those are numbers?  How do they work?'

 

I wrote them down in the dust, from one to ten, and showed him. 'That's all there is to it.'. . .

 

He understood it at once.  'And you have all known all this time and never mentioned it to me?' he said.

 

'It never occurred to me that you didn't know,' I said.

 

'Pah.  My ignorance is vast and profound.  I like to know at least what I do not know.'"

 

 

ETA, not because it has to do with numbers, but just because I like the quote:

 

"'They're not. They're tools.  Everyone knows that.'

 

'What everyone knows, Socrates examines.'"