Ⅰ Ⅴ Ⅹ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ
Roman numerals
A summing system in base 10, with no zero.
StructureAdditive — signs are summed; there are no columns, so nothing can be empty
Base10
ZeroNone — the system never needs one
Regionthe Roman world; still current in the Latin-writing world
Datesc. 7th c. BCE onward; displaced for calculation from the 13th c. CE
UnicodeU+2160–U+217F (Number Forms)
Status living
Curatorial note
Additive with a subtractive shorthand — IV rather than IIII — and no zero, because a system that never uses columns has no empty column to mark. It survives everywhere calculation is not the point: clock faces, monarchs, film copyright lines, the front matter of books. A living script for a dead arithmetic.
Specimen
The digits, at size 56 Ⅰ Ⅴ Ⅹ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ
40 Ⅰ Ⅴ Ⅹ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ
26 Ⅰ Ⅴ Ⅹ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ
17 Ⅰ Ⅴ Ⅹ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ