Notinole from Babylon to Middle-earth: Roman Numerals: Position Counts

» WntrMute - Roman Numerals: Position Counts

With roman numerals, the position of the letters is very important. IV is not the same as VI, being 4 and 6 respectively. The typical usage is that the letters are listed from left to right, going from higher values to lower values. When a lower value precedes a higher value, the lower value is subtracted from the higher. This is why in movie credits you can see something like: MCMLXXVII, which is 1977. The example you gave of IVL and LVI both meaning 56 isn't exactly accurate. A Roman reading that would interpret the second as 56, but may interpret IVL as either 46 (or 1 from 5, giving 4, which is subtracted from 50) or 44 (5 from 50, giving 45, minus 1). Either way, our imaginary Roman would shake his head at the ignorance of all those not Roman, because either usage would be very odd.

-- posted by WntrMute