Many different systems have arisen throughout history to express numbers. One system that gets looked at as a curiosity piece is the one used by the Romans.
Question
What are Roman Numerals? How did the system work?Answer
It's a system that has no place holders and no zeros. See below for more...Analysis
The accomplishments of the Roman Empire, and in particular in the fields of architecture and engineering, are even more amazing given the system used to express numbers.
Unlike the base 10 system that is used world-wide, that uses 10 symbols and place holders to express values (much like what we have with the number 10 - there is a 1 that represents 1 x 10 and a 0 to represent 0 x 1, which is then added up to arrive at 10), the Roman system uses a system of symbols representing ever increasing values with ever increasing addition and subtraction rules to express values (the link to livescience lists out more of the rules used in the Roman system).
For example, the number 1 is represented with an I
1 = I
2 = II
3 = III
so far so good - it's very much like the tick system discussed in The Number 1 entry. But then we start to get some rules. First rule - we don't list any more than 3 of the same value in a row, which means 4 can't be IIII. Ok - let's skip 4 and move on to 5:
5 = V
Next rules - when a smaller value sits to the right of a bigger value, you add. When a smaller value sits to the left, you subtract (with exceptions - check out the livescience link for more details). And so we can now find 4:
4 = IV
and 6 is
6 = VI
7 = VII
8 = VIII
We've hit 3 III in a row again and so need to express 9 in terms of the symbol for 10:
9 = IX
10 = X
11 = XI
And so on.
Some more symbols are:
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500
M = 1000
The number 77, for instance, is represented as LXXVII - 6 symbols to do what can be done with 2 in a base 10 system. And the number of symbols will vary depending on the value being expressed.
Check out the link below to the Roman Numeral Multiplication Table to see what a student in Roman times might have to deal with.
Vocabulary used:
For more information check out these links (comment to add your favourite link):
https://www.livescience.com/32052-roman-numerals.html
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