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M = 1000, CM = 900, L = 50, XXX = 30, V = 5 and II = 2. So it equals 1987.

However this is not how the ancient Romans would have read it, they just added the letter values and ignored the order of the letters. Thus to an ancient Roman:

M = 1000, C = 100, M = 1000, L = 50, XXX = 30, V = 5 and II = 2. So it equalled 2187.

The ancient Romans wrote 1987 as MDCCCCLXXXVII.

The "subtractive ordering shortform" that we use today was created by Monk Scribes during the Middle Ages to expedite hand copying of books.

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10y ago

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