I am not roman... But understand roman numerals... X is 10 I is 1, V is 5, L is 50 etc... 40 is XL ...


Why is super bowl 45. Not VL????
Instead of XLV....

Is there some rule about X?

X (10) before a bigger number L(50) means x less than L I.e. 40. The v is 5 added to the XL (40) making 45

You only subtract from like numbers (same digits).

IX for nine
XL for forty

So forty five is XL for forty and V for five

I get that but does VL not also =45

You can only decrease by powers of 10. So it has to be decreased by I, X, C, M etc

I think it's because you have to get the "40" part of "45" first.


XL = 40

now add 5

"XL + V"

"forty five"

XLV

****, I don't know, I was just talking out of my ass anyway, the dude above me has it right, I think.

[This message has been edited by AggieVictor10 (edited 1/21/2011 8:38p).]

Here's why:

in our system, we say "45", which means forty and five.

We don't say 50-5 (fifty minus five)

40 in Roman is XL 5 is V

So 45 is forty and five, or XLV

you're welcome.

Every "digit" follows the same pattern. For example, the ones digits are written as follows:

1: I
2: II
3: III
4: IV
5: V
6: VI
7: VII
8: VIII
9: IX

Then the tens digits:

10: X
20: XX
30: XXX
40: XL
50: L
60: LX
70: LXX
80: LXXX
90: XC

hundreds digits:

100: C
200: CC
300: CCC
400: CD
500: D
600: DC
700: DCC
800: DCCC
900: CM

etc, etc.

Anyone who learns and masters the pattern can identify numbers written in roman numeral just as easily as you and I can with Arabic numbers.

I said above I understood that XLV was 45!

My question was why was VL not 45.

The poster who said you must subtract in a factor of 10 seems correct although I still need to think.

The poster who said we dont think 50 - 5 is incorrect as we don't have to get to 5 to get to 9. IX = 9. Not VIIII.

Anyway it made for an interesting dinner conversation....

Ding ding we have a winner... Thanks coconut!!!

i say the texans finally get there at CM...

i wanna live to see superbowl C hahaha that would look so stupid at mid field

[This message has been edited by bsilvia15 (edited 1/21/2011 9:35p).]

What about superbowl DIX?

I think the patterns are also designed to minimize the lines/characters used to represent since those numbers took so long to carve in granite - that's why 9 is IX and not VIIII

Just taught my fourth graders Roman numerals. All 4s and 9s are created by a subtraction combination involving a smaller number reducing a larger one. Only i's, X's and C's can reduce another number larger than itself. None can reduce a Roman number more than two spots higher [I can only reduce V (5)and X(10), X can only reduce L (50) and C (100), and C can only reduce D (500) and M (1000)]. V, L and D cannot reduce another numeral. This means that no letter will be used more than three times in a row. 4 is IV (5-1), 9 is IX (10-1), 40 is XL (50-10), 90 is XC (100-10), 400 is CD (500-100) and 900 is CM (1000-100).

After MMMCMXCIX (3999), 4000 is created by writing an IV with a line over it. And so on.

Confused? Yeah, so were they.

By the way, the mnemonic I used was "I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk" (1,5,10,50,100,500,1000)

interesting, i didn't know only I X and C could reduce numbers

my 2 years of high school Latin always make me feel good in discussions like this.

Good Lord. Where did you go to Elementary School?

I learned this in like 3rd grade!

And I learned that "like" was a verb rather than an adjective in 3rd grade. (grin)

ROMAN NUMERALS ARE STOOPID.

THAT'S WHY THAT STOPID CONTININT BURND DOWN.

Looks like you could not read in the 3rd grade.

Read the post before you declare yourself omni present....

Rocky 7!!! Adrian's Revenge!!!

I am Roman. A Roman Aggie. I like it.

whole lot of nerdy anger in this thread. relax everyone, we're all dorks.

Let's move on to something less controversial like Lucas' re-edits of the Star Wars IV-VI.

[This message has been edited by Aggro (edited 1/21/2011 11:22p).]

Need to look back, but was Superbowl 30 marketed as Superbowl XXX?

Who cares?

Simple AND correct explanation:


There are many different random combinations romans used

X=20
V=63
I=12
L=love (or zero)

so adding the first few numbers in the tens digit divided by the ones digit, you end up with Super Bowl XLV or simply "Xuper boVL"

[This message has been edited by Typortak (edited 1/22/2011 12:32a).]

The Roman numeral system also had no representation for zero.

I'd like to go to Super Bowl L in 5 years...first time in 40 years that it would be a single letter, erm, numeral.

Confusing numbers. Damn Romans, did they ever give us ANYTHING worth while?

Lion fights.

Government, engineering, arts...

Candles that shoot balls of fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzfPcSysAg