Some Numerals
. Some of these Roman numerals used in old titles and colophons are difficult to read:Roman. |
Arabic. |
|---|---|
| C | 100 |
| CC | 200 |
| CCC | 300 |
| CCCC | 400 |
| IↃ or D | 500 |
| DC | 600 |
| DCC | 700 |
| DCCC | 800 |
| DCCCC or CM | 900 |
| M or CIↃ | 1,000 |
| MM | 2,000 |
| MMM | 3,000 |
| MMMM | 4,000 |
| IↃↃ or V̄ | 5,000 |
| CCIↃↃ or X̄ | 10,000 |
| IↃↃↃ or L̄ | 50,000 |
| CCCIↃↃↃ or C̄ | 100,000 |
| IↃↃↃↃ or D̄ | 500,000 |
| CCCCIↃↃↃↃ or M̄ | 1,000,000 |
The roman numerals have their own cozy little home in Unicode: I is U+2160 (Ⅰ), II is U+2161 (Ⅱ), and so on; I have used U+2183 Roman numeral reversed one hundred (Ↄ) for the backwards C. On my computer it is supplied by the DejaVu Sans font. In the book, the reversed C sits lower than other letters, but is the same size as a capital letter C; it is rotated through 180 degrees, which would have made it sit lower than the other letters.
There is also a Unicode character for CD, or CIↃ, which should look a little like an uncial M: U+2180 roman numeral one thousand C D (ↀ).
V̄ should be a V with a bar over it.
If the letter number be placed before the greater, the lesser is to be deducted from the greater; thus IV signifies one less than five, i.e. four; IX, nine; XC, ninety. If the lesser number be placed after the greater, the lesser is to be added to the greater; thus VI signifies one more than five, i.e. six; XI, eleven; CX, one hundred and ten. An horizontal stroke over a numeral denotes a thousand; thus V̄ signifies five thousand; L̄ fifty thousand; M̄ a thousand times a thousand, or a million. IↃ or D signifies five hundred, the half of CIↃ. M or CIↃ, a thousand, from mille. The latter figures joined at the top [uncial M], formed the ancient M.