Where can I Find Roman Numerals?

To write the Roman numeral, each of the non-zero digits should be treated separately. Thus 1,000 = M, 900 = CM, and 4 = IV. Therefore, 1904 is MCMIV.

This reflects typical modern usage rather than a universally accepted convention: historically Roman numerals were often written less consistently. A common exception to the practice of placing a smaller value before a larger in order to reduce the number of characters, is the use of IIII instead of IV for 4, especially, although by no means exclusively, on clock faces; see below. Another example of the same kind of thing is the representation of 1910 in Roman Numerals on Admiralty Arch, London - where DCCCC is used instead of CM for 900 (see illustration).

In general, the "rules" about subtractively applied symbols are the most frequently "broken". Below are some examples of the modern use of Roman Numerals. 1990 as MCMXC (The title of musical project Enigma's debut album MCMXC a.D.

Although Roman numerals are now written with letters of the Roman alphabet, they were originally independent symbols. The Etruscans, for example, used I,? , X,?

, 8,? , for I, V, X, L, C, and M, of which only I and X happened to be letters in their alphabet. One hypothesis is that the Etrusco-Roman numerals actually derive from notches on tally sticks, which continued to be used by Italian and Dalmatian shepherds into the 19th century.

Thus, 'I' descends not from the letter 'I' but from a notch scored across the stick. Every fifth notch was double cut (i.e.