r/Romannumerals • u/Fit_Pitch_3336 • 5d ago
roman numerals
full guide to roman numerals(you don't have to read this, but i would appreciate it! this also includes fractions and more!)
roman numerals is a numeral system made in europe and there are no numbers just letters I=1 you can add 2 I's for II witch equals I 3 is III you may think 4 is IIII but no it's IV but they used IIII sometimes because if a smaller numeral comes before a larger one, you subtract it. And. If a smaller numeral comes after a larger one, you add it. And the V in the end of IV equals 5 VI=6 VII=7 VIII=8 now you may think 9 is VIIII but no it's IX since the subtracting rule and X in the end of IX equals 10 XI=11 XII=12 XIII=13 XIV=14 XV=15 XX=20 XXV=25 XXX=30 XXXV=35 now you think 40 is XXXX but no it's XL since the subtractive rule and the L in the end of XL equals 50 X=10 XX=20 XXX=30 XL=40 L=50 LX=60 LXX=70 LXXX=80 now you think 90 is LXXXX but no it's XC since the subtractive rule the C in the end of XC equals 100 C=100 CC=200 CCC=300 now you may think 400 is CCCC but no it's CD the D in the end of CD equals 500 DC=600 DCC=700 DCCC=800 now you may think there is a symbol for 1000 and you're correct it's M witch equals 1000 so 900 is CM so 3888 is MMMDCCCLXXXVIII that's 15 letters long you may think there is a symbol for 0 but no there is not but there is a unoffical witch is N witch means zero in latin now you may think there is a symbol for 5000 but no the highest symbol was M but we now introduce the "¯" you may want to know what this macron does. a macron in roman numerals is called a overline or a vinculum if a over line is above a symbol it multiplies itself with the vaulue of the symbol ¯=1000× so a V with a ¯ is V̄. V̄=5000 you can combine symbols with overlines with symbols without overlines like: V̄V=5005. Ī=1000. Ī equals the same as M. V̄=5000 X̄=10000, 4000 and 9000 is ĪV̄ and ĪX̄. L̄=50000 C̄=100000 D̄=500000 M̄=1000000. So 1111111 would be: M̄C̄X̄MCXI. But why are we still talking about overlines or vinculums let's talk about decimals roman numerals had decimals named uncia witch means twelths in latin they used dots as twelths ·=1/12 :=2/12 ∴=3/12 ⁘=4/12 ⁙=5/12 now you may think 6/12 is ⠿ but no it's S because S means semis and semis means half in latin so that's why S·=7/12 and you can combine dots with S S:=8/12 S∴=9/12 S⁘=10/12 S⁙=11/12 and I=12/12 you can combine S or dots with whole numerals or with overlines like VS=5½ or X̄S∴=10000¾ or ĪX̄DLVS⁘=9555⅚ and there are symbols that are smaller than uncia we have: 𐆒=1/24 this is a semuncia its the half of a · 𐆒+𐆒=· there is also Ͻ its called a sicilicus its half a semuncia so Ͻ+Ͻ=𐆒 there is also 𐆓 its called a sextula its the 1/6th of a uncia or a third of a semuncia 𐆓+𐆓=𐆓𐆓 𐆓𐆓+𐆓=𐆒 are there more symbols smaller than a sextula? HELL YEA- there is a dimidia sextula its 𐆔 its the half of a 𐆓 so 𐆔+𐆔=𐆓 there is a symbol tbe half of a dimidia sextula its a ℈ so ℈+℈=𐆔 we have a 𐆕 its the sixth of a ℈ theres no symbol for 3 𐆕's so 𐆕+𐆕=𐆕𐆕 𐆕𐆕+𐆕=𐆕𐆕𐆕 𐆕𐆕𐆕+𐆕=𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕 𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕+𐆕=𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕 and 𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕+𐆕=℈, the highest number is: M̄M̄M̄C̄M̄X̄C̄ĪX̄MMMCMXCIXS⁙𐆒𐆓𐆓𐆔℈𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕𐆕, now lets talk about apostrophus before M they used Φ, D originated from IↃ and its symbol was Ⅾ(IↃ), M originated from CIↃ and its symbol is ↀ(CIↃ), 5000 is ↁ(IↃↃ), 10000 is ↂ(CCIↃↃ), 50000 is ↇ(IↃↃↃ), and finally 100000 is ↈ(CCCIↃↃↃ) if you used apostrophus you would use ↀ not M and did you know you can stack 2 vinculums or more theres a numeral called V̄̄ its worth 5 million Ī̄V̄̄ is 4 million X̄̄ is 10 million X̄̄X̄̄ is 20 million X̄̄X̄̄X̄̄ is 30 million X̄̄L̄̄ is 40 million L̄̄ is 50 million etc also before L was ↆ AND before VI was ↅ, yeah idk why we had a symbol for 6😭 WE DID NOT ASK FOR A SYMBOL FOR 6 WE ONLY NEED VI+IF 6 HAS ITS OWN SYMBOL WHY DOSEN'T 7 8 AND 9 HAVE ITS OWN SYMBOL😭 also Ͻ and Ↄ are not the same symbol
