can VL and CD be roman numerals for 45 and 400 respectively? By the way,I already tried CCCC for 400.
Asked
Active
Viewed 465 times
0
-
45 is XLV and 400 is indeed CD. About whether CCCC is acceptable, I have seen IIII used for IV but am not clear on the (acceptable exceptions to the) rules. – Andrés E. Caicedo Sep 09 '14 at 16:38
-
CD is right, but VL is not. Subtractions are only used for subtracting one power of ten from five times as much, or ten times as much. As another example 1999 is MCMXCIX, not MIM. IIII for IV is only used on clocks. – Zavosh Sep 09 '14 at 16:43
-
Ah OK, IIII seems to be an isolated thing, and it appears it was introduced much later. See here. – Andrés E. Caicedo Sep 09 '14 at 16:46
2 Answers
1
$400$ would be $CD$ ($500-100$), the same way $4$ is $IV$ ($5-1$)
$45$ is $XLV$ ($(50-10)+5$).
$CCCC$ would probably be understandable (it has been shown that some less educated romans used $VIIII$ for nine instead of $IX$), but it is not the appropriate way to write it.
Andrés E. Caicedo
- 79,201
Hippalectryon
- 7,730
-
-
@AndresCaicedo Unfortunately now, I remember hearing it in history class. – Hippalectryon Sep 09 '14 at 16:51
-
@AndresCaicedo Something like that http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/438/why-do-clocks-with-roman-numerals-use-iiii-instead-of-iv – Hippalectryon Sep 09 '14 at 16:53
