Why is 0 considered a number when it is basically nothing?

The head librarian at the library of congress has asked her assistant for an interval estimate of the mean number of books checked out each day. the assistant provides the following interval estimate: from 740 to 920 books per day. what is an efficient, unbiased point estimate of the number of books checked out each day at the library of congress?

[10 points, algebra 2]according to my answer key the restrictions are -1 and 4. but why not positive 1?

Aswimming pool had 2.5 million liters of water in it. some water evaporated, and then the pool only had 22 million liters of water in it. what percent of the water evaporated?