Roman numerals are still used today and can be found in many places.
- They are still used in almost all cases for the copyright date on films, television programmes, and videos - for example MCMLXXXVI
for 1986. You can see an example of the current copyright date written in this way on the web at the
currently of course MMV.
- They are also used to show the hours on some analogue clocks and watches. Here, though, the four is
almost always depicted as IIII not as IV. An exception is one of the most famous clocks in the world -
usually called Big Ben in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster where the
UK Houses of Parliament are located. The numerals are in lower case, gothic script and the 4 is depicted as iv.
See also Clocking the Fours for a
discussion on why IIII is used and other examples of IV on clockfaces.
- Intel, the computer chip maker, called the new version of its Pentium processor
launched in May 1997 the Pentium II.
The next version was Pentium III. But in 2000 Intel unveiled its latest chip as
the Pentium 4. Maybe
Intel thought that Pentium IV was too difficult for people to cope with.
- They can be used for the preliminary pages of book before the main page numbering gets under way. Here they numerals normally use lower case letters so pages i, iv, xi and so on.
- Sporting events are often numbered using Roman numerals. The Athens Olympics
in 2004, the 28th games in modern times, were called the
Games of the
XXVIII Olympiad, showing that it is the 28th games of the modern era since the first in 1896. The
2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy will be the XX Winter Games; they began in
1924 and were in the same year as the Summer games until 1992. Beijing will be
the XXIX Olympiad in 2008 and the 2012 Games won by London will be the XXX Olympiad. When counting Olympic Games the ones cancelled during war in 1916, 1940, and 1944 are included.
In the USA the American football championship is called
Super Bowl. In 2005, the 39th
championship was Super Bowl XXXIX and the 2006 event will be Super Bowl XL.
- Monarchs are usually numbered in Roman - eg King Edward VII of England,
Louis XIV of France. Popes are also numbered using Roman numerals so the late
Pope was John Paul II and the current Pope is Benedict XVI.
- This form is also sometimes seen in naming eldest sons in American families where successive generations bear the same first name.
The first time it happens the son is called Junior or Jr. In further generations
Roman numerals are used. On 22 July 2005, The Columbus Dispatch reported the death of the 80 year
old war veteran Joseph M. Clifford Jr. at the age of 80. His son, Joseph M.
Clifford III, of Phoenix, Arizona, survived him.
- They are found in numbering paragraphs in complex documents to clarify which are main sections and which subsections so II.3.iv.(5). And they are used for similar reasons to show the volume number of periodicals eg vol.VI no.5. The New York Times still does this on its front page - eg VOL. CXLVII..No.51,305.
- You will sometimes find the first and second world wars referred to as World War I and World War II or even WWI and WWII.
- Roman numerals can be seen on public buildings, monuments and gravestones, sometimes when the inscription is in Latin but often just to give the date a certain gravity. On gravestones, as well as the date of death, Roman numerals can be used for the age of the deceased.
- Before the 18th century they were widely used for the publication date on printed books. Since that time they are still sometimes found
on the title page, usually on specially printed or luxurious editions.
Up until the eighteenth century Roman numerals were used in Europe for book-keeping even though the
Indo-Arabic numerals we use today were known in Europe and widely used in Europe from around 1000 AD. There are said to be two reasons for this.
- Adding and subtracting are very easy with Roman numerals.
- Indo-Arabic numerals can more easily be mistaken or forged - a 0 can look very like a 6 or an 8 or a 9 or be turned into one by a single stroke.
Although simple arithmetic may be easier with Roman numerals, multiplication and division, fractions, and more advanced mathematics are difficult and
the lack of a zero is a particular disadvantage. So Indo-Arabic numerals slowly replaced Roman ones in everyday life.
Use of Roman Numerals
Version 2.21, 25 September 2005
All material on these pages is © Paul Lewis 1997-2005