Roman Numerals

The Roman Numerals are the system of numerals used in the Ancient Rome in their notation.

The natural numbers were written with the help of repeated numerals. And if the bigger numeral was written before the smaller one then they were added according to the principle of addition and if vice versa then the smaller one was subtracted from the bigger one according to the principle of subtraction. The last rule is used only to avoid the fourth repeat of one numeral.

The Roman numerals appeared about five hundred years ago among Etruscans.

To write the big numerals correctly it is necessary to write the number of thousands first, then the hundreds, then tens and then units. For example you want to write the numeral 1988 down. So you write thousand to which the letter M corresponds, then hundreds that is CM, then eighty that will make LXXX and eight will be written like VIII. Now combine all got numerals – MCMLXXXVIII.

Very often the Romans drew the line over the numbers to underline them in the texts. Later they also started to draw the line both under and over the numeral. Some authors used the upper line to indicate the increase of the numeral in 1000 times.

There is also the short way of writing the big numerals such as 1999. This way is not recommended to use but still it is used sometimes to make things simpler. The difference is that the numerals were written to the left of the number to decrease the number.