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From a recent pub quiz - - In Roman numerals, why is IC not the correct answer for 99?

Question #45219. Asked by DerekT.
Last updated Jul 25 2021.

Related Trivia Topics: History  
mochyn
Answer has 13 votes
Currently Best Answer
mochyn
21 year member
1206 replies

Answer has 13 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
It is a subtracted number and not allowed.

link http://www.ibiblio.org/units/roman.html



Response last updated by gtho4 on Jul 25 2021.
Mar 13 2004, 9:48 AM
Hamlet.
Answer has 10 votes
Hamlet.

Answer has 10 votes.
This is from the above site:
The Romans usually wrote IIII for 4 and XXXX for 40. The number 949 was DCCCCXXXXVIIII. To shorten the length of such numbers a "subtraction rule" appeared in later Roman times and was commonly used in medieval times. The "subtraction rule" allows the use of six compound symbols in which a smaller unit precedes the larger:

IV = 4 IX = 9 XL = 40 XC = 90 CD = 400 CM = 900

Using these symbols, 949 is written more compactly as CMXLIX. (Other "subtracted" symbols are not allowed. Thus 99 must written XCIX, not IC.) The use of subtracted symbols was never mandatory, so IIII and IV can be used interchangeably for 4.
link http://www.ibiblio.org/units/roman.html

Response last updated by gtho4 on Jul 25 2021.
Mar 13 2004, 11:35 AM
DerekT
Answer has 4 votes
DerekT
22 year member
40 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
Thanks for the input everybody and the site reference from mochyn. My search gave the following basic rules for subtraction:
i. Only powers of ten (I, X, C, M) can be subtracted.
ii. The smaller letter must be 1/5th or 1/10th of the larger one.
iii. The smaller letter must either be the first letter or preceded by a letter at least ten times larger than it.
iv. If another letter follows the larger one, it must be smaller than the number preceding the larger one.
link http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/math/roman/numerals.shtml

Shoot, if I had known all this before the Pub Quiz, we would have come in second and won a beautiful black Guinness tee-shirt.

Oops and p.s. Using the above rules and the QuizMeister's answer, 99 is XCIX.

Response last updated by gtho4 on Jul 25 2021.
Mar 13 2004, 12:48 PM
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