Why Roman numerals?

[pokerfan]

Super Bowls, dates in film credits, building cornerstones, etc. I mean, :wtf:

Just say 'no mas' to this pretentious 14th century nonsense.

Who's with me?

[rug]

1. Quid ni?

[pokerfan]

3. Because it's asinine

Hindu-Arabic numerals have served us well for seven hundred years. They have the advantage of allowing one to actually perform mathematical operations. Can anyone solve the following without first converting to a "normal" number system?

MMCDLXXXVII + MMMCDLXXV - DCCLXXXIV = ???????

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[jobycom]

4. So, what, you think people will need to subtract the current Super Bowl from the year of Psycho?

[pokerfan]

10. OK mister smarty pants

What if one wanted to subtract one date from another?

MCMVII - MDCXXXIX = ?

And please don't say that no one needs to do that. :)

It's obfuscation for the sake of obfuscation. Why not just write it out in Coptic if they don't want to be understood?

[jobycom]

12. But no one does need to do that.

The rare times they do, they can just convert. And I would think that any non-Republican and even a few of those idiots can figure a Roman number without any effort. I doubt that's true of Coptic.

[pokerfan]

23. No one ever subtracts a date from another?

Really?

[jobycom]

26. Not usually during the movie credits, no.

Other times, the date is generally written in good old Murikan numbers.

[struggle4progress]

27. But it's easy. You just follow a few simple rules

MCMVII - MDCXXXIX =
M + CM + VII - M - D - C - XXX - IX =
CM + VII - D - C - XXX - IX =
CM - D - C - XXX - IX + VII =
M - D - CC - XXX - IX + VII =
D - CC - XXX - IX + VII =
CCC - XXX - IX + VII =
CC + L + L - XXX - IX + VII =
CC + L + XX - IX + VII =
CC + L + XXI - X + VII =
CC + L + XI + VII =
CC + L + X + VIII =
CCLXVIII

[Lethe]

17. being anti- roman numerals is supporting terra

arabic numerals?

cmon

[struggle4progress]

19. Pshaw. They're sandbox play:

MMCDLXXXVII + MMMCDLXXV - DCCLXXXIV =
MM + MMM + CD + CD + L + L + XXX + XX + VII + V - D - CC - L - XXX - IV =
MMMMM + CD + CD - D - CC + L + L - L + XXXXX - XXX + VII + V - IV =
MMMMM + CD + CD - D - CC + L + L - L + XXXXX - XXX + VII + VI - V =
MMMMM + CD + CD - D - CC + L + XX + VII + I =
MMMMM + CD + D - D - CCC + L + XX + VIII =
MMMMM + CD - CCC + L + XX + VIII =
MMMMM + D - CCCC + L + XX + VIII =
MMMMMCLXXVIII

[Ptah]

2. So the casual reader wouldn't notice the coincidence

Road to Super Bowl XLIII flanked by 43 strip clubs

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/277522.php

[mainegreen]

5. Because it's pretentious.

It looks important!

Why else?

[texanwitch]

6. We had to learn them in school,

I remember them I think.

M=1000 C=100 D=50? x=10 V=5 I=1

[pokerfan]

11. L = 50

And I only know that because my Seahawks played in XL (40).

I guess Super Bowls are God's way of teaching us Roman numbers.

[jobycom]

13. And if it weren't for Super Bowls and movies, all that learning would go to waste.

:rofl:

D is 500. L is 50.

[texanwitch]

25. I was close.

Only off my one zero.

I wonder if kids have to learn this crap now.

[jobycom]

28. I hope so. I'd hate to let the Roman Empire die completely.

I spent too many years trying to learn Latin!

[pokerfan]

34. Latin is a dead language and now it's killing me!

as seen carved into many a desk.

[texanwitch]

37. I took a year of latin in high school.

I passed with a C, and I only remember on word of latin.

Bevis, meaning short.

[pokerfan]

39. Bevis?

[texanwitch]

41. I think so.

Sounds right.

[sarge43]

7. Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris! n/t

[pokerfan]

32. Uva uvam vivendo varia fit! n/t

[sarge43]

40. Verba tua intellegere no possum.

fit?

[pokerfan]

44. Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum!

(A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.)

[sarge43]

46. Hae! Credo nos in fluctu eodem esse. n/t

[UTUSN]

8. I luerve the "no mas" part!1 n/t

[derby378]

9. Try posting with Mayan numerals sometime. Go ahead, I'll wait.

:rofl:

[jobycom]

14. Well, in fairness, the Mayans at least understood the zero. The Romans not so well.

[derby378]

15. True, but to a point...

I thought the Mayans used zero mostly as a placeholder, but gave it a special place in their own calendar.

[jobycom]

18. Hehe. Maybe. I confess to learning that bit of trivia from an Edward James Olmos movie.

I've probably heard it somewhere else, too, but otherwise it's a detached bit of info I have floating in the nethermind. :)

[XemaSab]

20. .

[jobycom]

22. That's a flying saucer. Wikipedia shows it more like a football.

Were the Mayans predicting the Arizona Cardinals would go from zeros to the Super Bowl?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maya.svg

[XemaSab]

31. .

:tinfoilhat:

[jobycom]

35. I know, right?

:scared:

[XemaSab]

49. Maybe it's a tin foil hat.

:tinfoilhat:

[jobycom]

50. That certainly would change my perspective on much in this universe.

:wow:

[justabob]

16. I had to learn egyptian numerals in math for poets

and we had to do homework & tests with problems made up of glyphs. Madness. :D

[struggle4progress]

21. Did they make you do Egyptian fractions too?

[justabob]

30. lol

maybe accidentally :) .... the class was ridiculous as far as math goes, but as history, kinda intersting. Roman, egyptian, cunieform, and Chinese-Japanese number systems.

[struggle4progress]

36. You'd remember Egyptian fractions if you ever did them: the basic

feature is that only fractions they ever wrote ALWAYS had numerator one -- except that sometimes there is a special symbol used for 2/3

If the problem is Divide 7 loaves between 13 people? What does each get? the correct answer is something like 1/3 + 1/5 + 1/195

[justabob]

38. no, never anything like that

it was very basic stuff. 1250 + 1500 kind of stuff, only in glyphs

[struggle4progress]

42. Gosh, you missed the joy of working with "the red auxiliaries"

:rofl:

[justabob]

45. I am afraid to ask...

sounds faintly sinister :D

[struggle4progress]

47. Oh, you probably could have written a poem about the misery of Egyptian scribes

[justabob]

48. haha... indeed nt

:)

[Lex]

24. Yeah!! This is America, dammit! Say no to them farrin numbers!1111

nt

[Stuart G]

29. XXXIII XXXVII. NT

[Zavulon]

33. I'm with you.

It is just as pretentious as you say and really annoys me.

[harmonicon]

43. it's "fancy"

and anyone who thinks so is full of shit and likes crap. That's why I avoid things like the super bowl.

[TreasonousBastard]

51. Building cornerstones been doing that since the Romans, but...

the Superbowl's only doing it so the fans can feel like they're smart for figuring it out. Ask why they don't do the score in Roman numerals.

Movies? Who knows why they started that nonsense.

(Ever try to multiply or divide with Roman numerals? Ain't easy without a zero-- even addition takes some getting used to.)