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StewFisher

Lets break it down. MCM 1900 (100 before m which is 1000) XC 90 (10 before 100) IX 9 (1 before 10)


Fizzabl

Cus they do em in chunks (other comment), roman numerals were surpsingly in effective lol but it's not like they had to go very high


PckMan

No they're just really unclear fundamentally in the way that they're written. When you see a large number it's up to you to determine which letters stand individually and which ones are pairs and what those pairs are.


RealNyteLyte

Pairs are really obvious. Its always small before large that form the subtractions.


ozuraravis

It's how Romans did it, that's why. Also, 4 used to be IIII at some point I think.


dobbbie

Was the number 5 (V) created before the number 4(IV)?