ROMAN NUMERALS PUBLISHED MMX

THE BASICS I=1 V=5 X=10 L=50 C=100 D=500 M=1000

SO HOW DO WE GET OTHER NUMBERS? ii=2 III=3 IV=4 VI=6 Vii=7 VIII=8 IX=9 HOW DO THESE LETTER WORK TO EQUAL THOSE VALUES? THE KEY IS IN MATH, ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION.

ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION??? YES THAT’S RIGHT. LETS TAKE THE NUMBERS 2, 3, 4, 8, & 9 2 = I+I (1+1) 3=I+I+I (1+1+1) 8=V+I+I+I ( ) THESE ARE ADDITION SIMPLE RIGHT? BUT WHAT ABOUT SUBTRACTION?

SUBTRACTION The number 4 is noted as IV in this case the I is before the V so I which equals 1 is Subtracted from V which equals 5 so 5-1=4. The same is true for IX 10-1=9

THE RULES The rules are always the same. When ever a ROMAN NUMERAL of a lesser value is listed in front of a numeral of greater value the lesser numeral is subtracted from the value of the following numeral. i.e. IX=10-1=9

THE WRENCH IN THE GEARS Until the 39 XXXIX is pretty straight forward. One we hit 40 the rules are the same but there are some addition rules that get added to the mix.

40 thru 49 So how do we list 40 we can’t list 4 repeating X ’s. This is first time X is used for subtraction 40 is listed XL. L =50 also to get 49 you cant use IL that is wrong. 49 is written XLIX (10-1)=49

SO WHAT ELSE If you remember at the beginning I wrote MMX that stood for But lets list another year say How on earth would we list that?

1999 is complex yet simple 1999 is listed as MCMXCIX which is 1000+( )+(100-10)+(10-1)=1999 CONFUSED YET?