Re: Roman Numerals
From: Arturo Magidin (magidin_at_math.berkeley.edu)
Date: 07/30/04
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Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 15:39:29 +0000 (UTC)
In article <ad095bb8.0407300500.22b4b298@posting.google.com>,
Some Dude <themusicbox@gmx.net> wrote:
>Hey, I got 2 questions:
>
>
>1. Question ============
>
>I know that there is a rule that if one smaller number stands in front
>of a bigger number, the small is substracted from the bigger one. (Ex:
>IX = 10-1 = 9)
>
>But I thought one could only substract the main numbers I, X and C and
>not the helper letters such as V, L and D.
So... what was the question? I only see two statements.
>2. Question ===============
>
>If I only use I, V, X, L, C, D and M, then the biggest number I can
>create is 3999, right?
Opinions vary; at one time, the "rule" that you could not repeat the
same symbol more than 3 times did not exist: for example, the typical
way to write 4 was "IIII". You can still see it in some clocks. Even
agreeing to that rule, some do not believe that it applies to "M", so
that you could write 5000 by writing MMMMM.
>But if I put a | | on top of a number like that: |VI| (600,000), then
>the number inside is multiplied by 100,000.
I always throught it was times 1000, not times 100,000.
>Can I write for example |I|MDCV (101,515) or is that illegal?
I know of no law that prohibits it, though it will probably be
considered incorrect. (-:
The use of the dash above a number to signify it is multiplied by
1000, as I learned it, is only allowed for numbers 4000 and up, and
only for the most significant digits.
--
======================================================================
"It's not denial. I'm just very selective about
what I accept as reality."
--- Calvin ("Calvin and Hobbes")
======================================================================
Arturo Magidin
magidin@math.berkeley.edu
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