What do Roman numerals look like?

Answer 1

Roman Numerals look like the English letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M.

• I=1
• V=5
• X=10
• L=50
• C=100
• D=500
• M=1000

A single "lower" value letter is used before a "higher" value to indicate the number immediately prior to the higher (rather than 4 consecutive identical letters). In this manner, no more than 3 of any letter is required to form any number up to 2999.

Thus one can write the first 11 numbers:-

I = one

II = two

III = three

IV = four

V = five

VI = six

VII = seven

VIII = eight

IX = nine

X = ten

XI = eleven

IXX= nineteen

XX = twenty

XXI = twenty one

L= fifty

LX= sixty

C= one hundred

M= one thousand

MCMLXVII=one thousand nine hundred and sixty seven

MMCM = two thousand nine hundred

etc.

After MMCM =2900, a larger number of M's could be used, or represented by a bar across the top of a letter indicating a factor of 1000.

(i.e. barred V= 5000, barred M= 1,000,000)

For the source and more detailed information concerning this subject, click on the related links section (Wikipedia) indicated below.