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How did anyone do math in Roman numerals?

How did the Romans actually do any mathematical calculations with Roman numerals? Without the concept of places (units, tens, etc.) how did they add, subtract, multiply, divide, sell slaves, and build aqueducts?

Posted - January 18, 2018
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Responses


  • 14795
    There were Times when they got quite Cross about it...Many were Divided about how to go about it correctly and on the plus side I might add accomplished it minus the use of righting implements ..

    :)D
      January 18, 2018 1:24 PM MST
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  • 3719

    They did establish arithmetical techniques, and I have seen references or instructions to some of the basics, but they don't appear to have developed mathematics to any great depth so the awkwardness of their numerals was not a great problem to them. Perhaps their maths didn't advance because they could not conceive a more malleable number-system!

      January 18, 2018 1:56 PM MST
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  • 17596
    It was bad enough for us, but look at how they did it back then. 



    https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=how+to+do+math+using+roman+numerls&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1 This post was edited by Thriftymaid at January 18, 2018 4:16 PM MST
      January 18, 2018 2:35 PM MST
    3

  • 44608
    They didn't do math...They just had orgies, conquered other countries and watched gladiators kill each other.
      January 18, 2018 3:56 PM MST
    3

  • 17596
    Well, we know they did math; they built very interesting structures that require more than "eyeballing."
      January 18, 2018 6:09 PM MST
    0

  • 46117
    They asked the Greeks.

      January 18, 2018 3:56 PM MST
    2

  • 5835
    The Roman empire was built on muscle, not brains.
      January 18, 2018 11:52 PM MST
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  • 3719
    How do you make that out? Yes theirs was a highly bureaucratic, military regime but you cannot build a huge bureaucratic military empire and fill it with so much wonderful art, architecture and civil engineering of their own without brains as well. 

    The invaders who finally over-ran the Roman Empire after its own internal decline were the ones with little brain, or more accurately no desire to use their brains, and so plunged Europe into the Dark Ages.
      January 19, 2018 2:41 AM MST
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  • 5835
    Well, Romans were never known for their math skills. From what I hear, the invaders had some very impressive accomplishments.

    If you want some insight to dark ages, here is a fascinating analysis:
    https://comingdarkage.blogspot.com/
      January 19, 2018 4:09 PM MST
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  • 3719
    Thank you for that! I think some of the invaders would have been better than others but the cumulative effect was pretty bad.
      January 19, 2018 4:17 PM MST
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  • 3719
    Just looked at that citation - it's a few years old. I thought it would be an assessment of The "Dark Ages" - pre-Mediaeval - but it appears to be a strange set of someone's rather self-indulgent comments on events that happened a few years ago, to support some political theory of his own. I could not determine what the bog rides on or who's it is, it is on because the "About" tab opened an advertisement for 'phone company EE.  

    Nor could I determine whether it's based in the UK or the US - parts suggest Britain but the spelling "center" suggests America.

    One of the matters it mentions is about Greenpeace trying to tell the UK Government, via the Courts, not to build any nuclear power-stations. The writer says something "Just imagine what would happen if they did build any". Overtaken by events: they are.  
      January 19, 2018 4:28 PM MST
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