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Where can I find a good reference for Roman Numerals?
I
thought 1999 (or
your number) MIM (or your Roman numeral), why
doesn't your program convert to this? And is MIM
valid?
I
typed MIM (or your Roman number) into your program
and it told me 1999 (or your number) was valid?
What gives?
Why
does my watch/clock show 4 as IIII and not IV,
which I thought was correct?
What about numbers over 4999? What
is one million in Roman numerals?
What
are the Roman numeral values?
Can
I have the code for your conversion program?
Who
wrote this and if I bug him enough will he give
me the code? Pleeeease?
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|
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Where can I find a good reference for Roman Numerals? |
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A good reference can be found at: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RomanNumerals.html
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| I
thought 1999 (or your
number) would
be MIM (or your Roman numeral), why doesn't
your program convert to this? And is MIM valid? |
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There is still some controversy as to how Roman
numerals are depicted. The rules were even broken
in Roman times, it seems. But here are the basics:
- At each stage, always use the largest possible
number. You would represent 5 as V, not IIIII.
- Only I, X, and C can be subtracted from a
larger value when placed to the left.
- Only one smaller value may be placed to the
left of a larger one.
- The subtracted must be no less than one tenth
of the number being subtracted from.
From this, we find that 1999 cannot be MIM as
I is one thousandth the value of M. Therefore,
1999 becomes MCMXCIX, or 1000 (M) + 1900 (CM)
+ 90 (XC) + 9 (IX).
A good reference can be found at: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RomanNumerals.html
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| I
typed MIM (or your Roman number) into your program
and it told me 1999 (or your number) was valid?
What gives? |
| |
My program does not check the validity of the
Roman numeral before conversion. For this reason,
MIM will convert to 1999. But this also means
that if you wish to convert the word ROMAN into
Arabic, you'll get back 1000. Any Arabic to Roman
conversion, however, is accurate.
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| Why
does my watch/clock show 4 as IIII and not IV, which
I thought was correct? |
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IV is the most commonly accepted representation
for 4, however Roman numerals do go by various
rules which make IIII acceptable as well. But
as to watches and clocks, the reason IIII was
chosen over IV was because of it's counterpart
on the opposite side, the number eight (8). Eight
is shown as VIII and IV didn't balance the watch
or clock well, so for symmetry sake, IIII was
used instead.
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| What about numbers over 4999? What
is one million in Roman numerals? |
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The standard Roman numerals max out at 4999,
which is where my program stops converting. Beyond
4999 the same numerals are used, but a horizontal
bar is placed above them which multiplies it by
1000. For instance:
_
V = 5000
So for one million you'd have:
_
M = 1,000,000
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| What
are the Roman numeral values? |
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| I |
= |
1 |
| V |
= |
5 |
| X |
= |
10 |
| L |
= |
50 |
| C |
= |
100 |
| D |
= |
500 |
| M |
= |
1000 |
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| Can
I have the code for your conversion program? |
| |
Sorry, no. It's a very simple algorithm anyway,
so you should be able to figure it out in an afternoon.
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| Who
wrote this and if I bug him enough will he give
me the code? Pleeeease? |
| |
This conversion program was
written years ago as a simple CGI project. It has
since become somewhat frequently hit and has undergone
some code reworking to make it slightly faster and
more robust. The programmer is one of IVTech.com's key technology consultants.
The code for this conversion is quite simple, as
stated above, but for various reasons, it is not
publicly available. If you wish to discuss the algorithm
behind it, though, feel free to email Jeff.
He's not opposed to talking. |
