How to Add Roman Numerals

In the Roman number system each symbol has a certain value, no way to show place value and there was no zero. These facts mean it was impossible to do addition the way we do it today. 

So how did they do all the mathematics needed to construct their great buildings, keep track of their armies, collect taxes and make the complex calculations involved in creating the calendar?

The answer was… they used the Roman Abacus. All calculations were done on this device and then Roman numerals were used to ONLY record the totals.

How the Person in the Graphic Adds the Roman Numerals:  

I have LXIII friends coming to my party and Cleopatra has XXXVII. How many guests do I tell the slaves to cater for?
Hmmmmmm, first I have to put all the like numerals together so that is L + XXXX + V + IIIII
Then I just count them all up and the answer is C.
There has to be a more efficient way.

 

Take me to the Roman Numbers Page