Learn the history of Roman numerals from their ancient development to their use today. This lesson looks at how they were used in ancient Rome, how they are used today, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. !!!What are Roman Numerals? __Roman numerals__ are a numeric system which utilizes a series or combination of alpha characters, or letters, which represent numeric values. These letters, when arranged in the correct order, are designed to represent a sophisticated counting system that was commonly used in the Roman Empire for trading and commerce. In ancient times the letters used to represent Roman numerals were based upon the Latin alphabet. Therefore, if an ancient Roman were alive today and asked to write down a number, …show more content…
In Roman times bartering and bargaining was common. Similar to a modern-day auction, merchants would gather together and bid against each other for lots of goods. The hand signal theory suggests that the system of Roman numerals is a direct representation of the hand signals used during these auctions. For larger numbers such as 5 or 10, merchants would hold up their hand with their thumb extended and their fingers together to represent 5, or their arms crossed for 10, which is similar to the V and X used in the Roman numeral …show more content…
During the Middle Ages, the consistency with which Roman numerals were represented became an issue. Many of the inconsistencies experienced were simply examples of Middle Ages scribes and scholars forgetting or simply ignoring the subtractive value of Roman numerals. Rather than employing the subtractive principles to represent a value such as 4 as IV or 40 as XL, Middle Ages scholars only employed the additive principle thereby representing 4 as IIII or 40 as XXXX. Whether by mistake or by design, this inconsistency helped usher the decline of the use of Roman numerals. During the Middle Ages the problem of inconsistency was magnified with the development of lowercase letters. The employment of lowercase letters, or minuscule letters, in the Roman numeral system simply added to the confusion. The numeric value of 4 now had three variations, IV, IIII, or iv. In an effort to correct these inconsistencies, Middle Ages scholars would further confuse the issue with the development of what is commonly known as ‘medieval Roman numerals’, a system that substituted the traditional characters with what was considered standard letters at the