What is 9489 in roman numerals?

Answer 1

Under accepted conventions, MMMCMXCIX (3999) is the largest Roman numeral. The convention states that M may not repeat more than 3 times in succession (M=1,000). As such, the value 9489 cannot be represented using the standard Roman numerals.

Breaking with convention, MMMMMMMMMCDLXXXIX would be acceptable, but not by the Romans!

They would more likely have used something like c|ᴐcc|ᴐᴐcdlxxxix or, its more concise form of ↀↂcdlxxxix.

To understand why, you need to consider that the original symbol for 1,000 was not M, but ↀ (a bit like a C and D joined together), hence D became the symbol for 500 (half of 1,000). This symbol can be expanded such that 1,000 becomes C|Ɔ.

This notation can then be extended such that CC|ƆƆ represents 10,000 while CCC|ƆƆƆ represents 100,000, and so on. Thus to get 9000 we use the subtractive symbols, C|ƆCC|ƆƆ. This could also be variously written as ↀCↀƆ, or even more concisely as ↀↂ.

D could also be variously written as |Ɔ (500), |ƆƆ (5000) and |ƆƆƆ (50,000), or more concisely as D (500) and ↁ (5000).

The number 400 is an oddity with this notation because C|Ɔ (1,000) and C |Ɔ (400) would be very similar. The simplest way to differentiate is to use the standard CD for 400.

Thus the Roman numeral c|ᴐcc|ᴐᴐcdlxxxix can be broken down as follows:

c|ᴐcc|ᴐᴐ (10,000-1,000=9,000)

cd (500-100=400)

lxxx (50+10+10+10=80)

ix (10-1=9)

=9489