Roman Numerals 101

Numbers

The Romans used only seven letters to express all their numbers. The combination of a letter and its position could represent any number.

If you think that is an overambitious feat, you are correct.

They also use a line above the letter, so the numbering system actually represents our own very closely with fourteen different symbols.

The major difference is how they treat the notion of zero.

First, however, lets look a little more closely at their individual letters that represent numbers.

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Updated:2013/02/02