What are Roman Numerals

post from Did You Know? on 10 July 2006 11:59:00 PM. © Did You Know?

Roman Numerals are numerical symbols formed with the Roman letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M, representing respectively the numbers 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000, used by the ancient Romans. If interested, you can visit here to learn: How to read and write Roman Numerals.

A Synopsis on the History of Roman Numerals

Roman numerals were the standard numbering system and method of Arithmetic in Ancient Rome and Europe. Rome being the world leader at the time was dominant and very active in trade and commerce and needed a way to indicate numbers to carry out their daily business (finances) and to calculate their taxes. Also, being a modernized society in their era there was a demand and need to improve their architectual capabilities in building roads, bridges, fortresses, temples, stadiums, ships etc, as they expanded and their society became more sophisticated. It was then that Roman scholars invented numerical characters known as Roman Numerals as a standard numbering system.

This system was in use up to about 900 AD, when the Hindu's originated the Arabic Numbering System ( Arabic numerals). Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals or Western numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers and is also the one we use today. Arabic numerals is made up of the characters 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and in general European use since the 12th century. Unlike the Arabic numerals, Roman numerals didn't have a symbol for zero (0) and as a result, because the concept of zero did not exist, the numeral placement was sometimes based on subtraction rather than addition. The largest number that could be represented by the roman numerals system using their rules was 4,999.

Traditional Use of Roman Numerals

Traditionally roman numerals were used to indicate the order of family offspring of the same name ( For example, II was used instead of Jr., III for the third, and IV for the fourth and so on) and also if the same surname were used by church leaders (Popes) and kings (whether or not by off spring) this numbering system was used to indicate that order . In England, kings used this system of naming their kings that carried the same surname. The Romans in their time conquered many different countries and England was one of such countries. After conquering England, Romans settled there, where the English and other people would adapt the number system used by Romans. This is why for example kings of England like King Henry the 1st written as King I (pronounced: as King Henry the first) or king Henry the 8th written as Henry VIII (pronounced: King Henry the eight) used these roman numerals in their name. This is saying, using the latter as an example, that King Henry VIII was the 8th person to be King of England with the name "Henry". The same can be explained for Queen Elizabeth the 1st ( Elizabeth I) and Queen Elizabeth the 2nd (Elizabeth II), pronounced: Queen Elizabeth the Second, the present queen of England. If there should be another queen Elizabeth, she would be named Queen Elizabeth the third written as Queen Elizabeth III and would pronounced Queen Elizabeth the third.

Roman Numerals were also used for as dating on cornerstones of buildings showing origin of a building, statutes, headstones, ships (e.g. Queen Elizabeth II), books publication such as in chapter titles, volume of book series, appendices and so on.

The Use of Roman Numerals Today

Today the Roman Numerals are used as:

i.) Numbers in publishing and media industries for copyright dates,

ii) In books such as; pagination of preliminary pages (in lower case), appendices, chapter headings and title pages to show dates of publication.

iii) Numerical labels in lower case in the listing of written content (e.g. i, ii, iii, iv etc.),

iv) A part number to Arabic numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) in sub-list {1. (i), 1. (ii), 1. (iii) ?2. (i), 2 (ii)? and alphabet sub-listing {A (i), A (ii), B (i), B (ii)?..etc.}.

v) Clocks

vi) Watches,

vii) to indicate the anniversary of Super Bowl games in the US,

viii) headstones,

viiii) cornerstones of some building signifying date of construction etc.

x) family offspring of the same surname name usually after the third consecutive use of the surname i.e. after using the term Sr. and Jr.

xi) the naming of church leaders such as the Pope of the catholic church that may use the same name of previous Popes.

xii) the numbering of movie sequels

Related Article:

How to read and write Roman Numerals

Read The Full Article:
http://universalfacts.blogspot.com/2006/07/what-are-roman-numerals.html

Digg this

What are Roman Numerals

post from Did You Know? on 10 July 2006 11:59:00 PM. © Did You Know?

Roman Numerals are numerical symbols formed with the Roman letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M, representing respectively the numbers 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000, used by the ancient Romans. If interested, you can visit here to learn: How to read and write Roman Numerals.

A Synopsis on the History of Roman Numerals

Roman numerals were the standard numbering system and method of Arithmetic in Ancient Rome and Europe. Rome being the world leader at the time was dominant and very active in trade and commerce and needed a way to indicate numbers to carry out their daily business (finances) and to calculate their taxes. Also, being a modernized society in their era there was a demand and need to improve their architectual capabilities in building roads, bridges, fortresses, temples, stadiums, ships etc, as they expanded and their society became more sophisticated. It was then that Roman scholars invented numerical characters known as Roman Numerals as a standard numbering system.

This system was in use up to about 900 AD, when the Hindu's originated the Arabic Numbering System ( Arabic numerals). Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals or Western numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers and is also the one we use today. Arabic numerals is made up of the characters 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and in general European use since the 12th century. Unlike the Arabic numerals, Roman numerals didn't have a symbol for zero (0) and as a result, because the concept of zero did not exist, the numeral placement was sometimes based on subtraction rather than addition. The largest number that could be represented by the roman numerals system using their rules was 4,999.

Traditional Use of Roman Numerals

Traditionally roman numerals were used to indicate the order of family offspring of the same name ( For example, II was used instead of Jr., III for the third, and IV for the fourth and so on) and also if the same surname were used by church leaders (Popes) and kings (whether or not by off spring) this numbering system was used to indicate that order . In England, kings used this system of naming their kings that carried the same surname. The Romans in their time conquered many different countries and England was one of such countries. After conquering England, Romans settled there, where the English and other people would adapt the number system used by Romans. This is why for example kings of England like King Henry the 1st written as King I (pronounced: as King Henry the first) or king Henry the 8th written as Henry VIII (pronounced: King Henry the eight) used these roman numerals in their name. This is saying, using the latter as an example, that King Henry VIII was the 8th person to be King of England with the name "Henry". The same can be explained for Queen Elizabeth the 1st ( Elizabeth I) and Queen Elizabeth the 2nd (Elizabeth II), pronounced: Queen Elizabeth the Second, the present queen of England. If there should be another queen Elizabeth, she would be named Queen Elizabeth the third written as Queen Elizabeth III and would pronounced Queen Elizabeth the third.

Roman Numerals were also used for as dating on cornerstones of buildings showing origin of a building, statutes, headstones, ships (e.g. Queen Elizabeth II), books publication such as in chapter titles, volume of book series, appendices and so on.

The Use of Roman Numerals Today

Today the Roman Numerals are used as:

i.) Numbers in publishing and media industries for copyright dates,

ii) In books such as; pagination of preliminary pages (in lower case), appendices, chapter headings and title pages to show dates of publication.

iii) Numerical labels in lower case in the listing of written content (e.g. i, ii, iii, iv etc.),

iv) A part number to Arabic numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) in sub-list {1. (i), 1. (ii), 1. (iii) ?2. (i), 2 (ii)? and alphabet sub-listing {A (i), A (ii), B (i), B (ii)?..etc.}.

v) Clocks

vi) Watches,

vii) to indicate the anniversary of Super Bowl games in the US,

viii) headstones,

viiii) cornerstones of some building signifying date of construction etc.

x) family offspring of the same surname name usually after the third consecutive use of the surname i.e. after using the term Sr. and Jr.

xi) the naming of church leaders such as the Pope of the catholic church that may use the same name of previous Popes.

xii) the numbering of movie sequels

Related Article:

How to read and write Roman Numerals

Read The Full Article:
http://universalfacts.blogspot.com/2006/07/what-are-roman-numerals.html

Digg this

Bye Bye Bees

post from Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog on 10 July 2006 11:38:00 PM. © Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

The Vanishing by Sharon Levy:One-third of the food we eat comes from crops that need animal pollinators, a role often filled by bees but sometimes by butterflies, beetles, birds, or bats. Bee-pollinated foods include squash, tomatoes, peppers, apples, and pears. Unfortunately, the honeybees surrounding me are members of a threatened tribe, whose loss would have [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2006/07/10/bye-bye-bees/

Digg this

Movable Type Empowerment

post from The Scientific Activist on 10 July 2006 11:22:14 PM. © The Scientific Activist

It looks like everyone has a new angle on the recent Nature science blog rankings. Now, my blogging platform, Movable Type, is claiming its own bragging rights, noting that 30 of the 50 top science blogs are "powered" by Movable Type. (I guess Movable Type's idea of empowerment is making you deal with so many commenting/posting problems that your entire site basically grinds to a halt over the course of a weekend....) When you consider the fact that 22 of those 30 use Movable Type because they blog on the ScienceBlogs.com site, this fact becomes a little less impressive. To be fair, using Movable Type has been for the most part a positive experience--and it's been a hell of a lot better than Blogger. However, I've been less than impressed with the problems we've been facing lately, making the title of the Movable Type piece ("Scientific Proof: Scientists Love Blogging with Movable Type") seem a little over the top, to say the least.

Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2006/07/movable_type_empowerment.php

Digg this

Bilingual Are you sure

post from She Blinded Me With Science! on 10 July 2006 11:07:00 PM. © She Blinded Me With Science!

Check out this hilarious interview of Noam Chomsky by the infamous Ali G.

Thanks to Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal Cortex (and originally to Andrew Sullivan) for bringing this to my attention. (Jonah's another Seedster, too -- be sure check out his awesome article in the upcoming August / September issue.)

Read The Full Article:
http://blindedscience.blogspot.com/2006/07/bilingual-are-you-sure.html

Digg this

Octopedantry

post from Pharyngula on 10 July 2006 09:55:40 PM. © Pharyngula

Eh. It's a mannered debate about the plural of "octopus". Honestly, I think fretting about whether the root is Latin or Greek and the ending of the plural form matches is a waste of time—we're speaking English. What matters is that it is understood, and what the convention is. So let's ask the scientists who study octo-whatsises!

Searching PubMed for the various forms of "octopus" gives the following numbers of references:

Octopus:1,608Octopuses:592Octopods:16Octopi:6Octopodes:0Octopedes:0

I'm sticking with octopuses, the form hallowed by informed usage. I won't spit in your eye if you call them octopi. I suspect the only people who would call them octopedes are skulking about on the humanities side of campus.Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/scienceblogs/pharyngula?m=798

Digg this

Nationalism, Patriotism, Environmental Activism

post from Renewable Energy Generation on 10 July 2006 09:32:42 PM. © Renewable Energy Generation

I wonder if people really take Environmental Activism seriously or if people just construe it to be an abstract concept. Maybe they do. Many people are skeptic by nature, and in fact, many people think Nationalism and Patriotism are abstract ideas as well. All these ?isms? are near and dear to my [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.rengen.info/?p=148

Digg this

Lighting a fire under the president

post from Pharyngula on 10 July 2006 09:32:29 PM. © Pharyngula

George W Bush hasn't vetoed a single bill in all these long, long years of his presidency. Guess what issue might finally convince him to move?

He's willing to veto any expansion of stem cell research.

That's our George. Science isn't part of his base, so he'll willingly throw that away to make the church-based ignoramuses happy. Zygotes must be spared! It's the ones that have been born that can be used as cannon fodder.

Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/scienceblogs/pharyngula?m=797

Digg this

Celebrating Nikola Tesla

Tesla As you may have seen, the web is all abuzz today with news and commentary on the 150th birthday of the scientists and inventor Nikola Tesla. Tesla is probably best known as the inventor of the modern radio, but he had his hands in almost every area of electronics and magnetism research in his day. Because of his many inventions in the area, he is often called "the man who invented the Twentieth Century", a title that is surely well-deserved. His presence has seemed to only grow stronger with time, and even today his memory is allowing Serbia and Croatia to look past their uneasy past and unite in celebration over their shared claims to Tesla, an ethnic Serb from Croatia.

There's not too much I can add to the discussion that hasn't been said already, so instead I'll defer to the experts. In particular, and not surprisingly, Bora of A Blog Around the Clock has the definitive collection of the day's Tesla links. In his usual style, he's incredibly thorough, so make sure you have a look.

22.3T NMR Since my Ph.D. research is on protein NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), I would be remiss if I didn't mention Tesla's connection to my field--particularly since the unit for the strength of a magnetic field bears Tesla's name!