{| style="text-align:center;float:right" |- | |- |"" as a Roman numeral |} The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as: :and.

The Roman numeral system is decimal but not directly positional and does not include a zero. It is a cousin of the Etruscan numerals. Use of Roman numerals persisted after the decline of the Roman Empire. In the 14th century, Roman numerals were largely abandoned in favor of Arabic numerals; however, they are still used to this day in minor applications.

Modern use of Roman numerals includes (but is not limited to) numbered lists (such as the outline format of an article), clock faces, pages preceding the main body of a book, successive political leaders or people with identical names, and the numbering of certain annual events.

Reading Roman numerals

Roman numerals, as used today, are based on seven symbols:

! Symbol	! Value

Numbers are formed by combining symbols together and adding the values. For example, is 1000 + 1000 + 5 + 1 = 2006}}. Generally, symbols are placed in order of value, starting with the largest values. When smaller values precede larger values, the smaller values are subtracted from the larger values, and the result is added to the total. For example = 1000 + (1000 − 100) + (50 − 10) + (5 − 1) = 1944}}.

III XX CC

!!1 !!2 !!3 !!4 !!5 !!6 !!7 !!8 !!9
!Ones	I	II	|	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX
!Tens	X	|	XXX	XL	L	LX	LXX	LXXX	XC
!Hundreds	C	|	CCC	CD	D	DC	DCC	DCCC	CM

Because there has been no standardization, there may be multiple ways of representing the same number in Roman numerals. Historical and modern usage include the following examples:

9 as , 4 as or (Forme of Cury, a manuscript from 1390) 90 as , 83 as , 78 as , 6 as . 5 as , eight as , as 10 29 as , 44 as (Gate numbers on the Colosseum) 99 as (1524 German arithmetic textbook) 1606 as (inscription in Sant' Agnese fuori le Mura church in Rome) 1910 as (Admiralty Arch in London) 1954 as (Trailer for the movie The Last Time I Saw Paris)

Despite the lack of standardization, modern textbooks and references often state additional rules, including the following:

The symbols "", "", "", and "" can be repeated three times in succession, but no more. "D", "", and "" can never be repeated. "" can be subtracted from "" and "" only. "" can be subtracted from "" and "" only. "" can be subtracted from "" and "" only. "", "", and "" can never be subtracted Only one small-value symbol may be subtracted from any large-value symbol.

History

Pre-Roman/Ancient Rome

Although Roman numerals are now written with letters of the Roman alphabet, they were originally independent symbols. The Etruscans, for example, used , Λ, , 8, ⊕, for , , , , , and , of which only and happened to be letters in their alphabet. One folk etymology has it that the represented a hand, and that the was made by placing two s on top of each other, one inverted. However, the Etrusco-Roman numerals actually appear to derive from notches on tally sticks, which continued to be used by Italian and Dalmatian shepherds into the 19th century.

Thus, '' descends not from the letter '' but from a notch scored across the stick. Every fifth notch was double cut (.e. , , , , ''etc.''), and every tenth was cross cut (), IIIIΛIIIIXIIIIΛIIIIXII..., much like European tally marks today. This produced a positional system: ''Eight'' on a counting stick was eight tallies, IIIIΛIII, or the eighth of a longer series of tallies; either way, it could be abbreviated ΛIII (or ), as the existence of a Λ implies four prior notches. By extension, ''eighteen'' was the eighth tally after the first ten, which could be abbreviated , and so was XΛIII. Likewise, number ''four'' on the stick was the -notch that could be felt just before the cut of the Λ (), so it could be written as either or IΛ (). Thus the system was neither additive nor subtractive in its conception, but ''ordinal''. When the tallies were transferred to writing, the marks were easily identified with the existing Roman letters , and .

The tenth or along the stick received an extra stroke. Thus 50 was written variously as N, И, K, Ψ, , ''etc.'', but perhaps most often as a chicken-track shape like a superimposed and - . This had flattened to (an inverted T) by the time of Augustus, and soon thereafter became identified with the graphically similar letter . Likewise, 100 was variously Ж, , , H, or as any of the symbols for 50 above plus an extra stroke. The form Ж (that is, a superimposed and ) came to predominate. It was written variously as >< or , was then abbreviated to or , with variant finally winning out because, as a letter, it stood for , Latin for "hundred".

The hundredth or was marked with a box or circle. Thus 500 was like a superimposed on a or — that is, like a Þ with a cross bar,— becoming D or Ð by the time of Augustus, under the graphic influence of the letter D. It was later identified ''as'' the letter D; an alternative symbol for "thousand" looks like this (I), and half of a thousand or "five hundred" is the right half of the symbol, or I), and this may have been converted into D. This at least was the folk etymology given to it later on.

Meanwhile, 1000 was a circled or boxed X: , , ⊕, and by Augustinian times was partially identified with the Greek letter Φ ''phi''. Over time, the symbol changed to Ψ and . The latter symbol further evolved into , then , and eventually changed to under the influence of the Latin word "thousand".

Alfred Hooper has an alternative discussion of the origin of the Roman numeral system, for small numbers. Hooper contends that the digits are related to hand signals. For example, the numbers , , , correspond to the number of fingers held up for another to see. , then represents that hand upright with fingers together and thumb apart. Numbers 6–10, are represented with two hands as follows (left hand, right hand) 6=(,), 7=(,), 8=(,), 9=(,), 10=(,) and results from either crossing of the thumbs, or holding both hands up in a cross.

In the early period of Roman history, there was no subtractive principle. Subtractive notation arose from regular Latin usage: the number 18 was or “two from twenty”; the number 19 was or "one from twenty".

Middle Ages/Rennaisance

Minuscule (lower case) letters were developed in the Middle Ages, well after the demise of the Roman Empire, and lower-case versions of Roman numbers are now also commonly used: , , , , ''etc.'' In the middle ages, a ''j'' was sometimes substituted for the final '''' of a number, such as ''iij'' for 3 or ''vij'' for 7. This ''j'' was considered a swash variant of ''.'' The use of a final ''j'' is still used in medical prescriptions to prevent tampering with or misinterpretation of a number after it is written.

A unique, more comprehensive shorthand for writing Roman numerals was developed during the middle ages, which today are called "medieval Roman numerals." This system used almost every other letter of the Roman alphabet to stand as abbreviations for more longhand numbers (usually those that consisted of repetitions of the same symbol). They are still listed today in most dictionaries, although through disfavor are primarily out of use.

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- !Modernnumber !Medievalabbreviation !Notes |- |5 |A |Resembles an upside-down V. Also said to equal 500. |- |6 |ↅ |Either a ligature of VI, or the Greek letter stigma (Ϛ), having the same numerical value. |- |7 |S, Z |Presumed abbreviation of ''septem'', Latin for 7. |- |11 |O |Presumed abbreviation of (e.g.) ''onze'', French for 11. |- |40 |F |Presumed abbreviation of English ''forty''. |- |70 |S |Also could stand for 7, and has same etymology. |- |80 |R | |- |90 |N |Presumed abbreviation of ''nonaginta'', Latin for 90. |- |150 |Y |Possibly derived from the lowercase y's shape. |- |151 |K |This unusual abbreviation's origin is unknown; it has also been said to stand for 250. |- |160 |T |Possibly derived from Greek ''tetra'', as 4 x 40 = 160. |- |200 |H | |- |250 |E | |- |300 |B | |- |400 |P, G | |- |500 |Q |Redundant with D, abbreviation for ''quingenti'', Latin for 500. |- |2000 |Z | |}

Chronograms, messages with a numbers encoded into them, were popular during the Renaissance era. The chronogram would be a phrase containing the letters , , , , , , and . By putting these letters together, the reader would obtain a number, usually indicating a particular year.

Modern usage

Roman numerals remained in common use until about the 14th century, when they were outmoded by Hindu-Arabic numerals (thought to have been introduced to Europe from al-Andalus, by way of Arab traders and arithmetic treatises, around the 11th century) in practically all mathematical and economical applications. Roman numerals are still used today in several niche contexts. A few examples of their current use include: Names of monarchs and Popes, e.g. Elizabeth II, Benedict XVI. These are referred to as monarchical ordinals; e.g. "" is pronounced "the second". This tradition began in Europe sporadically in the Middle Ages, gaining widespread use in England only during the reign of Henry VIII. Previously, the monarch was not known by numeral but by an epithet such as Edward the Confessor.

The year of production of films, television shows and other works of art within the work itself. Outside reference to the work will use regular Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Hour marks on timepieces.

The year of construction on building faces and cornerstones.

Page numbering of prefaces and introductions of books.

Book volume and chapter numbers.

Sequels of movies, video games, and other works.

Outlines.

A recurring grand event, such as the Olympic Games.

In chemistry, Roman numerals are used in the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, for the oxidation number of cations which can take on several different positive charges. They are also used for naming phases of polymorphic crystals, such as ice.

In astronomy, the natural satellites or "moons" of the planets are traditionally designated by capital Roman numerals.

In photography, Roman numerals (with zero) are used to denote varying levels of brightness when using the Zone System.

In earthquake seismology, Roman numerals are used to designate degrees of the Mercalli intensity scale.

In music theory, the diatonic functions are identified using roman numerals. See: Roman numeral analysis. In performance practice, individual strings of stringed instruments, such as the violin, are often denoted by Roman numerals, with higher numbers denoting lower strings.

Modern non-English-speaking usage

The French, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Croatian, Catalan and Serbian languages use capital Roman numerals to denote centuries (e.g., '''' refers to the eighteenth century).

In Italy, Poland, Russia, Central Europe, and in Portuguese, Romanian, Croatian and Serbian languages, mixed Roman and Arabic numerals are used to record dates (usually on tombstones, but also elsewhere, such as in formal letters and official documents). The month is written in Roman numerals while the day is in Arabic numerals: 14. 1789 is 14 June 1789.

In Eastern Europe and the Baltic nations, Roman numerals are used to represent the days of the week in hours-of-operation signs displayed in windows or on doors of businesses. Monday is represented by '''', which is the initial day of the week. Sunday is represented by '''', which is the final day of the week. The hours of operation signs are tables composed of two columns where the left column is the day of the week in Roman numerals and the right column is a range of hours of operation from starting time to closing time. The following example hours-of-operation table would be for a business whose hours of operation are 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; 9:30 AM to 7:00 PM on Tuesdays and Fridays; and 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM on Saturdays; and which is closed on Sundays.

In Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and other European countries to lesser extent, Roman numerals are used for floor numbering. Likewise apartments in central Amsterdam are indicated as ''138-'', with both an Arabic numeral (number of the block or house) and a Roman numeral (floor number). The apartment on the ground floor is indicated as ''.

Special Values

Zero

The number zero does not have its own Roman numeral, but the word ''nulla'' (the Latin word meaning "none") was sometimes used by medieval computists in lieu of 0. Dionysius Exiguus was known to use ''nulla'' alongside Roman numerals in 525. About 725, Bede or one of his colleagues used the letter N, the initial of ''nulla'', in a table of epacts, all written in Roman numerals.

Fractions

Though the Romans used a decimal system for whole numbers, reflecting how they counted in Latin, they used a duodecimal system for fractions, because the divisibility of twelve makes it easier to handle the common fractions of 1/3 and 1/4 than does a system based on ten . On coins, many of which had values that were duodecimal fractions of the unit , they used a tally-like notational system based on twelfths and halves. A dot • indicated an "twelfth", the source of the English words ''inch'' and ''ounce''; dots were repeated for fractions up to five twelfths. Six twelfths (one half) was abbreviated as the letter S for "half". ''Uncia'' dots were added to S for fractions from seven to eleven twelfths, just as tallies were added to for whole numbers from six to nine.

Each of these fractions had a name, which was also the name of the corresponding coin:

!Fraction	!Roman Numeral	!Name (nominative and genitive)	!Meaning
1/12	•		"ounce"
2/12 = 1/6	•• or :		"sixth"
3/12 = 1/4	••• or ∴		"quarter"
4/12 = 1/3	•••• or ::		"third"
5/12	••••• or :•:		"five-ounce" (''quinque unciae'' → ''quincunx'')
6/12 = 1/2	S		"half"
7/12	S•		"seven-ounce" (''septem unciae'' → ''septunx'')
8/12 = 2/3	S•• or S:		"twice" (as in "twice a third")
9/12 = 3/4	S••• or S:•	or	"less a quarter" (''de-quadrans'' → ''dodrans'')or "ninth ounce" (''nona uncia'' → ''nonuncium'')
10/12 = 5/6	S•••• or S::	or	"less a sixth" (''de-sextans'' → ''dextans'')or "ten ounces" (''decem unciae'' → ''decunx'')
11/12	S••••• or S:•:		"less an ounce" (''de-uncia'' → ''deunx'')
12/12 = 1	I		"unit"

The arrangement of the dots was variable and not necessarily linear. Five dots arranged like :·: (as on the face of a die) are known as a quincunx from the name of the Roman fraction/coin. The Latin words ''sextans'' and ''quadrans'' are the source of the English words sextant and quadrant.

Other Roman fractions include: 1/8 (from ''sesqui-'' + ''uncia'', i.e. 1½ uncias), represented by a sequence of the symbols for the semuncia and the uncia. 1/24 (from ''semi-'' + ''uncia'', i.e. ½ uncia), represented by several variant glyphs deriving from the shape of the Greek letter Sigma ‹›, one variant resembling the pound sign ‹£› without the horizontal line(s) and another resembling the Cyrillic letter ‹Є›. 1/36 ("two sextulas") or , represented by ‹ƧƧ›, a sequence of two reversed Ss. 1/48 , represented by ‹Ɔ›, a reversed C. 1/72 (1/6 of an uncia), represented by ‹Ƨ›, a reversed S. 1/144 ("half a sextula"), represented by ‹ƻ›, a reversed S crossed by a horizontal line. 1/288 (a scruple), represented by the symbol ‹›. 1/1728 , represented by a symbol resembling closing guillemets ‹ » ›.

Large numbers

In the Middle Ages, a horizontal line was used above a particular numeral to represent one thousand times that numeral, and additional vertical lines on both sides of the numeral to denote one hundred times the number, as in these examples:

}} for one thousand }} for five thousand |}}| for one hundred thousand |}}| for five hundred thousand

The same overline was also used with a different meaning, to clarify that the characters were numerals. Sometimes both underline and overline were used, e. g. }}, and in certain (serif) typefaces, particularly Times New Roman, the capital letters when used without spaces simulates the appearance of the under/over bar, e.g. .

Sometimes 500, usually , was written as , while 1,000, usually , was written as . This is believed to be a system of encasing numbers to denote thousands (imagine the s as parentheses). This system has its origins from Etruscan numeral usage. The and symbols to represent 500 and 1,000 were most likely derived from and , respectively.

An extra denoted 500, and multiple extra s are used to denote 5,000, 50,000, etc. For example:

!Base number
!1 extra Ɔ
!2 extra Ɔs
!3 extra Ɔs

Sometimes was reduced to for denoting 1,000. John Wallis is often credited for introducing this symbol to represent infinity (), and one conjecture is that he based it on this usage, since 1,000 was hyperbolically used to represent very large numbers. Similarly, 5,000 () was reduced to ; and 10,000 () was reduced to .

IIII and IV on clocks

Clock faces that are labeled using Roman numerals conventionally show for four o'clock and for nine o'clock, using the subtractive principle in one case and not the other. There are many suggested explanations for this:

Issac Asimov theorized that, during the early history of Rome, it was common to use to represent ''four'', because represented the Roman god Jupiter, whose Latin name, IVPPITER, begins with . Louis XIV, king of France, who preferred over , ordered his clockmakers to produce clocks with and not , and thus it has remained. Using standard numerals, two sets of figures would be similar and therefore confusable by children and others unused to reading clockfaces: and are similar, as are and . As the first pair are upside down on the face, an additional level of confusion would be introduced—a confusion avoided by using to provide a clear distinction from . The four-character form creates a visual symmetry with the on the other side, which the two-character would not. With , the number of symbols on the clock totals twenty s, four s, and four s, so clock makers need only a single mold with a , five s, and an in order to make the correct number of numerals for their clocks: . This is cast four times for each clock and the twelve required numerals are separated:

:The and one of the s are rotated 180° to form and . The alternative with uses seventeen s, five s, and four s, requiring the clock maker to have several different molds. Only the symbol would be seen in the first four hours of the clock, the symbol would only appear in the next four hours, and the symbol only in the last four hours. This would add to the clock's radial symmetry. Many clocks use because that was the tradition established by the earliest surviving clock, the Wells Cathedral clock built between 1386 and 1392. It used because that was the typical method used to denote 4 in contemporary manuscripts (as iiij or iiii). That clock had an asymmetrical 24-hour dial and used Arabic numerals for a minute dial and a moon dial, so theories depending on a symmetrical 12-hour clock face do not apply.

Unicode

Unicode has a number of characters specifically designated as Roman numerals, as part of the ''Number Forms'' range from U+2160 to U+2188. This range includes both upper- and lowercase numerals, as well as pre-combined glyphs for numbers up to 12 ( or ), mainly intended for the clock faces for compatibility with large East-Asian character sets such as JIS X 0213 that provide these characters. The pre-combined glyphs should only be used to represent the individual numbers where the use of individual glyphs is not wanted, and not to replace compounded numbers. Additionally, glyphs exist for archaic forms of 1000, 5000, 10,000, large reversed C (), late 6 (, similar to Greek Stigma: ), early 50 (, similar to down arrow ), 50,000, and 100,000. Note that the small reversed c, is not intended to be used in roman numerals, but as lower case Claudian letter ,

Ⅲ ⅲ ↂ

+ Table of Roman numerals in Unicode

Code x=!!0!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8!!9!!A!!B!!C!!D!!E!!F

! Value!!1!!2!!3!!4!!5!!6!!7!!8!!9!!10!!11!!12!!50!!100!!500!!1,000

! U+216x

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

|

Ⅳ

Ⅴ

Ⅵ

Ⅶ

Ⅷ

Ⅸ

Ⅹ

Ⅺ

Ⅻ

Ⅼ

Ⅽ

Ⅾ

Ⅿ

U+217x

ⅰ

ⅱ

|

ⅳ

ⅴ

ⅵ

ⅶ

ⅷ

ⅸ

ⅹ

ⅺ

ⅻ

ⅼ

ⅽ

ⅾ

ⅿ

Value!!1000!!5000!!10,000!!–!!–!!6!!50!!50,000!!100,000!!colspan=7

! U+218x

ↀ

ↁ

|

Ↄ

ↄ

ↅ

ↆ

ↇ

ↈ

The characters in the range U+2160–217F are present only for compatibility with other character set standards which provide these characters. For ordinary uses, the standard Latin letters are preferred. Displaying these characters requires a program that can handle Unicode and a font that contains appropriate glyphs for them.

If using blackletter or script typefaces, Roman numerals are set in Roman type. Such typefaces may contain Roman numerals matching the style of the typeface in the Unicode range U+2160–217F; if they don't exist, a matching Antiqua typeface is used for Roman numerals.

See also

Kharosthi

Roman abacus

Roman arithmetic

Urnfield culture numerals

References

External links

Conversion algorithm and demonstration program (with java source code) for numbers up to 3,999

Conversion program (with javascript source code) for numbers up to 3,999,999

FAQ #1 Why do clocks with Roman numerals use "IIII" instead of "IV"?:

Minor history of the rules of Roman Numerals and an Arabic to Roman Numeral Converter

Online Converter for Decimal Numerals (JavaScript, GPL)

Roman Numeral Conversion Exercises (Java)

Simple Roman Numeral Converter in C (C)

Matlab functions for Roman numerals conversion (source code) (Matlab)

Web Based Converter - Decimal to Roman Numerals

Child friendly roman numerals webquest

French book with 841 chapters, numbered up to DCCCXLI

Category:Numerals Category:Numeration Category:Roman mathematics Category:Latin alphabet

ar:أرقام رومانية az:Rum rəqəmləri zh-min-nan:Lô-má sò͘-jī be:Рымская сістэма злічэння be-x-old:Рымскія лічбы bo:རོ་མའི་ཨང་ཀི། bs:Rimski brojevi br:Niveradur roman bg:Римски цифри ca:Numeració romana cv:Рим шутлав йĕрки cs:Římské číslice da:Romertal de:Römische Zahlendarstellung et:Rooma numbrid es:Numeración romana eo:Romiaj ciferoj eu:Zenbaketa erromatar fa:عددنویسی رومی fr:Numération romaine ga:Uimhir Rómhánach gl:Numeración romana ko:로마 숫자 hi:रोमन अंक hr:Rimski brojevi id:Angka Romawi ia:Numeration roman is:Rómverskir tölustafir it:Sistema di numerazione romano he:ספרות רומיות kn:ರೋಮನ್ ಅಂಕಿಗಳು kk:Рим Цифрлары sw:Namba za Kiroma ku:Hejmarên romî la:Numeri Romani lv:Romiešu skaitļi lb:Réimesch Zuelen lt:Romėniški skaičiai hu:Római számok mk:Римски бројки ml:റോമൻ സംഖ്യാസമ്പ്രദായം mr:रोमन अंक ms:Angka Rumi nl:Romeinse cijfers ja:ローマ数字 no:Romertall nn:Romartal nrm:Chiffes romaines nds:Röömsche Tallen pl:Rzymski system zapisywania liczb pt:Numeração romana ro:Cifre romane ru:Римские цифры sq:Numrat romakë scn:Nùmmura rumani simple:Roman numeral sk:Rímske číslice sl:Rimske številke sr:Римски бројеви sh:Rimski brojevi fi:Roomalaiset numerot sv:Romerska talsystemet ta:ரோம எண்ணுருக்கள் th:เลขโรมัน tr:Roma rakamları uk:Римська система числення vi:Số La Mã yi:רוימישע צאל zh:罗马数字

name	The Rule
background	group_or_band
origin	Minnesota, United States
genre	pop, R&B;, reggae
label	R, R, & R Records
website	therulemusic.com
current members	Ryan LiestmanJeff LoveShawn Connelly
past members	Gregory Washington
notable instruments	}}

The Rule (formerly Ry and the Rule) is an American pop/R&B; band, led by Ryan Liestman (keyboardist for the Jonas Brothers). The group released its first album, the self-titled ''The Rule'' in the summer of 2006, under the indie label R, R, & R Records. Michael Bland, Tommy Barbarella, and Stokley Williams have also performed with The Rule.

In the fall of 2006, The Rule toured the United States with American, Grammy Award-winning singer Cyndi Lauper.

Discography

Albums

''The Rule'' (2006)

Additional images

References

first grad second grade third grade

External links

Official site

Earthquake Music Video

Commercial for 2006 Cyndia Lauper Tour (special guest, The Rule)

Category:American rhythm and blues musical groups Category:Musical groups from Minnesota

es:The Rule