Roman Numerals
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Roman Numerals

These are the Roman numerals and their Arabic equivalents.

Roman Arabic
I 1
V 5
X 10
L 50
C 100
D 500
M 1,000

These do not represent numerals, like ours do, but they represent places. For example,  X and L represent the 10s place and not the only 5 and 1.  If that sounds confusing, check out the rules below.

There are three rules.

I.  A smaller number before a bigger number should be subtracted from the bigger number.  IX is 1 before a 10, so it is 9, get it?

II. A bigger number before a smaller number means that you add them together.  MD = 1000 + 500 or 1500.

III.  You can only put one number before a larger one and you can't have more than three roman numerals in a row.  You can't have 8 be IIX (it has to be VIII) and 9 can't be VIIII (it has to be IX).

IV.  If a smaller number is between two larger numbers, subtract it from the second larger number.  CIV is 100 + 1 before 5 or 104.) 

Print this page and try these out for practice.

1.  IX  _______________ 4.  LXV _______________
  2.  XVI _____________ 5.  CXXIV _____________
  3.  CXC  _____________ 6.  MMCDVIII _____________