FOR CATEGORY 1 AND 2

ROMAN NUMERALS

A numeral system (or number system) is a writing system for representing numbers. This system
represents numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a particular manner. A symbol
may represent different numbers in different numeral systems.

The most commonly used system of numerals is the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. This is the
ordinary number system used by us. This system uses ten symbols: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
These symbols are referred to as digits. We use these digits repeatedly to get bigger numbers, for
example, 1 written twice gives 11, 1 followed by 2 gives 12, 2 followed by 7 gives 27, and so on.

Another important numeral system is the one using the Roman numerals. As the name itself
suggests, this system originated in Rome during the middle ages.Numbers in this system are
represented by combinations of 7 letters: I, V, X, L, C, D and M.The table below shows the
value of these letters in the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.

These numerals are used to refer to Kings, Queens, Emperors and Popes. We also see these
numerals in watches and clocks.

Now let us see how these symbols are used to represent different numbers.

As we have seen, ‘I’represents 1. The Roman numeral for 2is written as 'II', just two one's added
together.Similarly, the Roman numeral for 3 is written as ‘III’.
Writing 4 as 'IIII' looks problematic and confusing.Instead, we write it using V.The number 4 is
written as ‘IV’.We have ‘V’ for 5, ‘VI’ for 6, ‘VII’ for 7 and ‘VIII’ for 8.

Again 9 when written as ‘VIIII’ can be easily confused with ‘VIII’. So we write 9 with the help
of X. Thus the number 9 is written as ‘IX’.

The number 0 does not have its own Roman numeral.

Now we shall see how to form other Roman numerals.

Note that as we have seen in the case of IV and IX, we can only stack three of the same numeral
together to make Roman numerals. So in the following 6 instances, we use subtraction.

 I can be placed before V (5) and X (10) to make 4 and 9.

 X can be placed before L (50) and C (100) to make 40 and 90.
 C can be placed before D (500) and M (1000) to make 400 and 900.

This is called the subtraction principle.

Rule 1

When a symbol appears after a larger or equal symbol, it is added.

Let us make it more clear through some examples.

Examples

 VI stands forV + I = 5 + 1 = 6
 XXXI stands forX + X + X + I = 10 + 10 + 10 + 1 = 31
 CCCXXV stands for C + C + C + X + X + V = 100 + 100 + 100 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 325

Rule 2

When a symbol appears before a larger symbol, it is subtracted.

Examples

 IX stands for X – I = 10 – 1 = 9 (I smaller than X)

 XCIII stands for C – X + I + I + I = 100 – 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 93 (X smaller than C, so
subtract; but X larger than I, so add)
 CDLXXIVstands for D – C + L + X + X + V – I = 500 – 100 + 50 + 10 + 10 + 5 – 1 =
474 (D smaller than C, so subtract; C larger than L, so add; …, I smaller than V, so
subtract)
The rules mentioned above also helps us to convert ordinary numbers to Roman numerals.

 For example, consider the number 1736.

First, we break the numbers into thousands, hundreds, tens and ones and write down the Roman
numeral for each in turn.

So 1736 is broken to 1000, 700, 30 and 6. Then we convert them as follows:

 Consider another example 987.

987 is broken to 900, 80, 7. Then the conversion is

Now we shall see how to add and subtract Roman numerals.

While adding and subtracting numerals, we ignore the subtraction principle. Thus 4 is taken as
IIII instead of IV, 9 as VIIII instead of IX, 40 as XXXX instead of XL and so on.

We start with an example for addition.

 VIII + IX = ?

First, we change IX in to VIIII.

Then we arrange each symbol of both the numbers in order from the biggest to the smallest. Thus
we have VVIIIIIII, where one V each from VIII and VIIII, three I’s from VIII and four I’s from
VIIII.

Next we combine both V’s to form X, five I’s to form V and two I’s to form II, i.e. XVII. Thus,

 XXI + XLVIII = ?

Changing XL of XLVIII to XXXX, we have XXXXVIII.

Arranging the symbols of XXI and XXXXVIII in the correct order, we get XXXXXXVIIII (two
X’s from and one I from XXI, four X’s, one V and three I’s from XXXXVIII).

Combining five X’s we get one L, then we have one X and VIIII becomes IX, i.e. LXIX. Thus,

 XCI + XCIX = ?

Here we have to change both XCI and XCIX.

First, consider XCI. XC stands for 90. So we take it as LXXXX. So XCI becomes LXXXXI. In
XCIX, we have XC as 90 and IX as 9. So we change XC as LXXXX and IX as VIIII. Thus,
XCIX becomes LXXXXVIIII.

Now arranging the symbols of these two numerals in order, we get LLXXXXXXXXVIIIII.

Two L’s make C, five X’s make L, then three X’s and one V, and five I’s make one V. Thus we
get CLXXXVV. Again two V’s give one X. So we have CLXXXX. Again LXXXX is XC.

Finally, we get CXC. Thus,

When we move to subtraction, we ignore the subtraction principle and use the following
procedure.

 VIII – IV = ?

ChangeIV to IIII.

Now, write these numbers as in the normal case as below:

Strike off all the symbols that are common to these two numbers.

Thus we have,

Next, we write V in terms of I.

Again strike off the common symbols.

Thus we have IIII which is IV.

So,

 CI – LXXVI = ?

Both these numbers are free of subtraction principle. So we start with our subtraction.
Striking off the common symbols,

Now these two numerals have no common symbols. So we represent the smallest symbol of the
first numeral in terms of the largest symbol of the second numeraland then strike off symbols
that appear on both sides, and then repeat this process as many times as necessary.

As the first numeral has only one symbol, C, we write C in terms of the largest symbol of
LXXV, i.e. L.

Striking off the common symbols,

Now representing L of the first numeral in terms of the largest symbol X of the second numeral,
we get

Representing each X by V, we get

Striking of the common symbols,

Thus we have VVVVV. Combining two V’s to get X, the answer is XXV.

So,
  LXXXVIII – LXIV = ?

Changing IV of LXIV to IIII, we have LXIIII.

Striking off the common symbols,

Now representing the smallest symbol V of XXV in terms of the symbol I of the second numeral,
we have

Striking off the common symbols,

Thus we get XXIIII. Combining four I’s to get IV, the answer is XXIV.

So,

Now try to answer the following questions.

1. Convert 37 to Roman numerals.
2. Identify the numberLXXXII.
3. Convert 65 to Roman numerals.
4. Identify the numberXLV.
5. Convert 199 to Roman numerals.
6. Identify the numberCXXIII.
7. Convert 251 to Roman numerals.
8. Identify the number CXL.
9. Convert 700 to Roman numerals.
10. Identify the numberCCC.
11. XIX + XXI = __________
12. XCVII + III = __________
13. CCXXXIX + V = __________
14. XC – VI = __________
15. CD – CL = __________
16. CCCLXIX – XLV = __________
17. How many times does the symbol V appear in a clock?
18. Which is the largest numeral that can be made using the symbol V alone?
19. How many times will the symbol X appear in the numeral form of 499?
20. Which is the smallest numeral that has the symbol L?
ANSWER KEY
1. XXXVII
2. 82
3. LXV
4. 45
5. CXCIX
6. 123
7. CCLI
8. 140
9. DCC
10. 300
11. XL
12. C
13. CCXLV
14. LXXXIV
15. CCL
16. CCCXXIV
17. 5
18. V
19. 2
20. XL