Doug Ewell wrote:
>
> >> I would be fascinated to see some sort of evidence that addition and
> >> subtraction is easier in Roman numerals than in Hindu-Arabic ("European")
> >> numerals.
> >
> > I + I = II
> > X + X = XX
> > X + X + X = XXX
> > C + X = CX
> > CX - X = C
>
> For these carefully chosen examples, sure, but what about:
>
> III + IX = XII
> XXIV + XXVII = LI
> C - I = XCIX
>
> etc. This is no better than European digits, and it feels a little like
> doing math with pounds, shillings, and pence.
>
See the section called "How can I use Roman numerals to do
arithmetic problems?" at Dr. Math's Roman page:
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/faq/faq.roman.html
There were tricks and shortcuts for performing math operations
using Roman numerals, but I suspect that doing math in Roman
numerals is only easier if other numerals are unfamiliar...
Best regards,
James Kass.
