Kids Learning Zone Numbers |
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Roman Numerals was the standard numbering system and method of Arithmetic in Ancient Rome and Europe until about 900 AD, when the Arabic Numbering System, which was originated by the Hindu's, came into use. The concept of "Zero" did not exist in Europe until after 1000AD; thus, there was no roman numeral symbol for "Zero". If you think adding or subtracting in roman numerals is clumsy; try multiplication or long division! Only seven numeral-characters were used and when a numeral was over-lined, it represented the base-value, multiplied by a thousand. This convention is really no longer used, as Roman numerals are seldom utilized for values beyond 4999 Placing an "I" in front of the "V"; or placing any smaller value in front of any larger value, indicates subtraction. That is, the preceding smaller value is subtracted from the following larger value. So "IV" means 4. The value "IIII" is sometimes used for "4". "IIII" is used mostly on faces of modern clocks and for other modern uses. The standard Roman Numeral for "4" is IV. Placing a smaller value after a larger one indicates that the smaller value is added to the preceding larger value. Thus, after V comes a series of additions - VI means 6, VII means 7, VIII means 8. |
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I |
The easiest way to note down a number is to make that many marks - little I's. Thus I means 1, II means 2, III means 3. However, four strokes seemed like too many.... | |
V |
So the Romans moved on to the symbol for 5 - V. Placing I in front of the V, or placing any smaller number in front of any larger number this indicates subtraction. So IV means 4. After V comes a series of additions,VI means 6, VII means 7, VIII means 8. | |
X |
X means 10. But wait, what about 9? Same deal. IX means to subtract I from X, leaving 9. Numbers in the teens, twenties and thirties follow the same form as the first set, only with X's indicating the number of tens. So XXXI is 31, and XXIV is 24. | |
L |
L means 50. Based on what you've learned, I bet you can figure out what 40 is. If you guessed XL, you're right = 10 subtracted from 50. And thus 60, 70, and 80 are LX, LXX and LXXX. | |
C |
C stands for centum, the Latin word for 100. A centurion led 100 or 80 men (depending on period). We still use this in words like "century" and "cent." The subtraction rule means 90 is written as XC. Like the X's and L's, the C's are tacked on to the beginning of numbers to indicate how many hundreds there are: CCCLXIX is 369. | |
D |
D stands for 500. As you can probably guess by this time, CD means 400. So CDXLVIII is 448. (See why we switched systems?) | |
M |
M is 1,000. You see a lot of Ms because Roman numerals are used a lot to indicate dates. For instance, Roman Tales was formed in 2006 AD (Christians use AD for Anno Domini, "year of our Lord"). That year is written as MMVI. | |