Nicolas Chuquet (French: [ʃykɛ]; born c. 1445 – c. 1455; died c. 1488 – c. 1500) was a French mathematician. He invented his own notation for algebraic concepts and exponentiation. He may have been the first mathematician to recognize zero and negative numbers as exponents. In 1475, Jehan Adam recorded the words "bymillion" and "trimillion" (for 1012 and 1018) and it is believed that these words or similar ones were in general use at that time. In a second passage, he wrote: