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What are Roman numerals? |
by Kate Simmons >> more about the author
III, IV, VII. Have you ever seen a Roman numeral? You may have wondered about these notations, which were put into use around 2,000 years ago by the ancient Romans as a way to represent numbers. Roman numerals have a different look than the numbers we use today when counting or solving a math problem!
Rather than the using digits (1, 2, 3, etc.) like the Arabic numbers we’re used to, Roman numerals use a combination of letters. Some numerals consist of only one letter. For example, “I” (a capital letter “i”) is the Roman numeral for the number 1, while “C” is the Roman numeral for 100. Other numerals can be quite long, such as XXVIII, the Roman numeral for 28!
Learning Roman numerals isn’t as tricky as it may seem… Let’s start with the Roman numerals for 1, 2 and 3. Guess what? They are indicated with line-like marks—one for each unit of counting. For example, I is the Roman numeral for 1, II is for 2, and III is for 3.
So is IIII the Roman numeral for 4? No! Here’s where we need to skip ahead and learn two more Roman numerals that will make our journey a bit easier. The Roman numeral for 5 is V (a capital letter “v”)! The Roman numeral for 10 is X (yes, a capital letter “x”)!
Now let’s learn another rule about Roman numerals: If marks appear after the numeral, we add. If they appear before the numeral, we subtract. For example, let’s look at the Roman numeral VII. We just learned that “V” is the Roman numeral for the number 5. There are two marks (II) after the V. So we ADD two to figure out what the numeral stands for! 5 + 2 = 7. Therefore, VII is the Roman numeral for 7!
What about IX? We learned that “X” is the Roman numeral for 10. This time the mark (I) is in FRONT of the numeral. Therefore, we must SUBTRACT, or take away, to find our answer. There is one mark in front, so we’ll take away one. 10 – 1 = 9. So IX is the Roman numeral for 9!
Put on your detective hat and go on a hunt for Roman numerals! While you are much more likely to find the Arabic numbers you’re used to (1, 2, 3, etc.), here are some places you may find Roman numerals if you really search:
After the name of a ruler or leader. For example, the Queen of England is Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, which is written Queen Elizabeth II!
Do you like watching football? Every year, the Super Bowl is noted with a Roman numeral. The number gets bigger with each passing year. For example, the very first Super Bowl game was Super Bowl I, followed by Super Bowl II the next year, and so on!
Some watches and clocks use Roman numerals instead of Arabic numbers.
Happy hunting!
