Why does the indexing start with zero in 'C'?

Question

Why does the indexing in an array start with zero in C and not with 1?

Answer 1

Suppose we want to create an array of size 5
int array[5] = [2,3,5,9,8]

let the 1st element of the array is pointed at location 100

and let we consider the indexing starts from 1 not from 0.

now we have to find the location of the 1st element with the help of index
(remember the location of 1st element is 100)

since the size of an integer is 4-bit
therefore --> considering index 1 the position would be
size of index(1) * size of integer(4) = 4
so the actual position it will show us is

100 + 4 = 104

which is not true because the initial location was at 100.
it should be pointing to 100 not at 104
this is wrong

now suppose we have taken the indexing from 0
then
position of 1st element should be
size of index(0) * size of integer(4) = 0

therefore -->
location of 1st element is 100 + 0 = 100

and that was the actual location of the element
this is why indexing starts at 0;

I hope it will clear your point.