Roman Numerals

6 min read · Updated September 26, 2026 · by the SolveCalcPro editorial team

Roman numerals write numbers with seven letters. They were used across the Roman world and remained common in Europe for centuries. Today you see them on clocks, in movie titles, on monuments and in outlines. Once you know the pattern, they are easy to read and write.

The seven symbols

Symbol	I	V	X	L	C	D	M
Value	1	5	10	50	100	500	1,000

The rules

Add when symbols go from large to small: VIII = 5 + 3 = 8.
Subtract when a smaller symbol comes before a larger one: IV = 4, IX = 9, XL = 40, XC = 90, CD = 400, CM = 900.
Do not repeat a symbol more than three times in a row (III is 3, but 4 is IV).
V, L and D are never repeated.

Converting a number to Roman numerals

Split into thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. 1994 = 1000 + 900 + 90 + 4 = M + CM + XC + IV = MCMXCIV. 2026 = MM + XX + VI = MMXXVI. 49 = XL + IX = XLIX.

Converting back

Read left to right, adding values but subtracting when a smaller symbol precedes a larger one. MCMXCIV = 1000 + (1000 − 100) + (100 − 10) + (5 − 1) = 1994. The Roman numeral converter checks both directions.

Arithmetic and limits

XIV + XXIII: 14 + 23 = 37 = XXXVII. The largest number in standard form is 3,999 (MMMCMXCIX). Larger values use a bar over a symbol to multiply it by 1,000. There is no zero and no place value, which is why Roman numerals are awkward for calculation.

Where you still see them

Clock faces, book chapters and preface pages, film copyright years, monarchs and popes (Elizabeth II), the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games.

Practice questions

Test yourself, then tap to check. Answers are calculated by the tools linked below.

Write 2049 in Roman numerals.
Show answer
2049 in Roman numerals: MMXLIX
Convert 2026 (decimal) to binary and hex.
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Decimal (base 10): 2026
List the 8 times table up to 12.
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8 × 12: 96