Systems of numeration

The Romans devised a system that was a substantial improvement over hash marks, because itused a variety of symbols (or ciphers) to represent increasingly large quantities. The notationfor 1 is the capital letter I. Thenotation for 5 is the capital letter V. Other ciphers possessincreasing values:

X = 10

L = 50

C = 100

D = 500

M = 1000
Systems of numeration

For the year 1987, it would read: MCMLXXXVII. Let’s break this numeral down into its constituent parts, from left to right:
M = 1000
+
CM = 900
+
L = 50
+
XXX = 30
+
V = 5
+
II = 2