Heart Of Gold 💛 🚀 🐋 🌺

Pathduck

@catweazle Computer says zero.

Or maybe that should be nulla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#Zero

hlehyaric

@pathduck You can use Roman numerals on your computer without converting them? How wonderful Windows is!

Pathduck

@hlehyaric Yes, it's simply marvellous what these things can do!

In this case it was our old friend...

https://www.google.com/search?q=MCMLXII%2BCIV-MMLXVI

As we know, for the Plebeians the concept of a "computer" also includes web sites, they know not the difference

Catweazle

@hlehyaric , ROMAN(Number; Mode) or Arabic("Roman number") in Libre Office Calc, also in Linux.

hlehyaric

@catweazle I don't need to use a software to convert Roman numerals. I can do it myself with my brain. It's best, easier & quicker.

Catweazle

@hlehyaric , shure?
How do you express 999 in Roman?

dannii

@catweazle said in Heart Of Gold :

@hlehyaric , shure?
How do you express 999 in Roman?

IM?

hlehyaric

@catweazle

I never asked how to convert Roman numerals to Arabic numerals or what software did it.
I have nothing to prove or justify to you.

A bon entendeur, salut.

Catweazle

@hlehyaric , don't bite me for this, Roman numbers are no difficult to convert, but often it isn't done in the best way
For 999 you can use
IM or also
CMXCIX
LMVLIV
XMIX
VMIV

Pathduck

@catweazle Yes, but the G even gives the answer in the suggestions, don't even need to visit the site

@dannii

IM

"There is a common belief that any smaller digit placed to the left of a larger digit is subtracted from the total, and that by clever choices a long Roman numeral can be "compressed". The best known example of this is the ROMAN() function in Microsoft Excel, which can turn 499 into CDXCIX, LDVLIV, XDIX, VDIV, or ID depending on the "Form" setting.[24] There is no indication this is anything other than an invention by the programmer, and the universal-subtraction belief may be a result of modern users trying to rationalize the syntax of Roman numerals."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#Irregular_subtractive_notation

(I like bashing people over the head with Wikipedia, even for stuff I really have no idea about )

dannii

I never heard of the other derivatives!
I mean, I learnt roman numbers at school when I was 6 years old. I'm 38 now and kinda get an idea of how they work.

Never used them in my life, don't know why they stuck in that crazy part of my brain though

Catweazle

@pathduck , I think that the Romans themselves also preferred to use the shortest way of writing numbers in their day to day, I don't think this is an invention of current developers.
It is only natural not to complicate the life more than necessary.
Although today there are still those who complicate their lives with numbers, for example in French numerals or in Anglo-Saxon units.

Pathduck

@catweazle said in Heart Of Gold :

Although today there are still those who complicate their lives with numbers, for example in French numerals or in Anglo-Saxon units.

Yes, let's give some due thanks to the Hindus and Arabs for the Decimal system

hlehyaric

@guigirl Those young people are exasperating, aren't they?
I suggest to ban anyone under 50.

Catweazle

@pathduck , happy those which don't need numbers

Pathduck

@catweazle That's very interesting!

But... why do you link to the Nigerian The Guardian, which is not the same as the UK paper?

Do you often read Nigerian news?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/20/highereducation.research
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/10/daniel-everett-amazon

Catweazle

@pathduck , no, I know this tribe, and this was the first article in english I found, no other reasons.

A Former User

@catweazle said in Heart Of Gold :

I think that the Romans themselves also preferred to use the shortest way of writing numbers in their day to day, I don't think this is an invention of current developers.

IIRC (read somewhere sometime long ago), they didn’t use this subtraction system at all.

Catweazle

@potmeklecbohdan , I don't know, but I think that with all the works of engineering, architecture and science in ancient Rome, they surely used much more complex numerical connotations than simple symbols for the units.

Pathduck

@catweazle Of course, like everyone else they measured stuff in feet, fingers, thumbs, cubits and so on, and had their own symbols for these, separate from the numeral system (which obviously couldn't do fractions).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_units_of_measurement
https://unicode-table.com/en/blocks/ancient-symbols/

@potmeklecbohdan

IIRC (read somewhere sometime long ago), they didn’t use this subtraction system at all.

The Wikipedia article says there were exceptions:
"There is however some historic use of subtractive notation other than that described in the above "standard": in particular IIIXX for 17,[25] IIXX for 18,[26] IIIC for 97,[27] IIC for 98,[28][29] and IC for 99.[30] A possible explanation is that the word for 18 in Latin is duodeviginti, literally "two from twenty", 98 is duodecentum (two from hundred), and 99 is undecentum (one from hundred).[31] However, the explanation does not seem to apply to IIIXX and IIIC, since the Latin words for 17 and 97 were septendecim (seven ten) and nonaginta septem (ninety seven), respectively."

Maybe the people using numerals like that were considered dunces or yokels by their contemporaries.

"Oh no, that Stupidus Maximus has gone and written IIX instead of VIII on the stone tablets again!"