Study Resource: Table of the Roman numerals

Roman numerals are used to represent numbers in a lot of different languages. Interested in learning how to construct them? Have a look at this resource.

In most modern languages, you are most likely to see the following numbers written using Roman numerals. Here we’ve provided the most common notation for these numbers in modern language:

Keep reading to find out how to form any number using Roman numerals!

The basic symbols used to form Roman numerals are:

You can add these symbols together in order to create the numbers in between them. Put the symbol with the largest value on the left. This is called “additive notation” because you add the symbols together. For example:

There are a few values that, in modern uses of Roman numerals, we commonly represent using something called subtractive notation. In this type of notation, you put a symbol with a smaller value on the left of one with a larger value, to indicate that you should subtract the smaller number from the larger one. For example:

Using subtractive notation allows you to use fewer symbols. Compare:

• 40 = XXXX = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10

• 40 = XL = 50 - 10

In ancient times, the choice to use additive or subtractive numbers was somewhat a matter of preference. So you might have seen 8 written either as VIII or as IIX, and you might have seen 9 written either as VIIII or IX.

In most modern uses of Roman numerals, though, you will always use subtractive numbers to represent 4, 9, 40, 90, 400, and 900, and we only use subtractive numbers to represent those values. For example:

You can, however, combine the subtractive numbers for 4, 9, 40, 90, 400, and 900 to form larger numbers, like 495. To do this, you need to first form the number in the thousands place, then the hundreds place, then the tens place, then the ones place. For example: