Brief History and Origin of Roman Numerals
When were roman numerals discovered? The history and origin of Roman numerals has not been made clear by the writers of the period. What is clear is that numerals were used by the ancient Etruscans. An interesting aspect of the Etruscan numeral system is that some numbers, like in the number system of the Romans, are represented as partial subtractions. The Etruscan numeric system was adapted from the Greek Attic numerals providing ideas for the later Roman numerals. However, the origin of the Roman numeral system is probably very simple. The system is based on the number 10 - so no doubt this ancient counting system was originally based based on a counting method using the fingers. A single stroke of the pen would represent one finger. The Latin word for 100 is centum and for 1000 is mille giving the numerals C and M. Large Roman Numerals Conversion Chart
Use this Numerals Conversion Chart to translate large numbers into Roman Numerals. X: 10
L: 50
C: 100
CC: 200
CCC: 300
CD: 400
D: 500
DC: 600
DCC: 700
DCCC: 800
CM: 900
M: 1000
MCM: 1900
MM: 2000
MMM: 3000
MMMM: 4000 Large Roman Numerals Conversion Chart
Use this Roman Numerals Conversion Chart to translate large numbers into numerals. For the large numbers (4000 and above), a horizontal bar is placed above a base numeral to indicate multiplication by 1000. V =5000
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X =10,000
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L =50,000
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C =100,000
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D =500,000
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M =1,000,000 Roman Numerals - Remember this Saying!
The following memory aid that can be useful in helping to translate numbers into Roman Numerals. Use this as an easy reminder of how to read and convert Roman numerals.! "My Daft Cousin Loves Extra Vitamins!" My: M: 1000
Daft: D: 500
Cousin: C: 100
Loves: L: 50
Extra: X: 10
Vitamins: V: 5 | 
