There is not, and never has been, an "official", "binding", or universally accepted

standard for Roman numerals. Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and remained
somewhat inconsistent in medieval times and later.[3] The "rules" of the system as
it is now applied have been established only by general usage over the centuries.

A "base 10" system

Roman numerals are essentially a decimal or "base 10" number system. Powers of ten
� thousands, hundreds, tens and units � are written separately, from left to right,
in that order. In the absence of "place keeping" zeros, different symbols are used
for each power of ten, but a common pattern is used for each of them.

The underlying form of this pattern employs the symbols I and V (representing 1 and
5) as simple tally marks, to build the numbers from 1 to 9. Each marker for 1 (I)
adds a unit value up to 5 (V), and is then added to (V) to make the numbers from 6
to 9. Finally the unit symbol for the next power completes a "finger count"
sequence:

I, II, III, IIII, V, VI, VII, VIII, VIIII, X.

At some early time the Romans started to use the abbreviated forms IV ("one less
than 5") for IIII and IX ("one less than 10") for VIIII - a convention that has
been widely, although not universally, used ever since.[a] This convention is
called "subtractive" notation,[4] as opposed to the purely "additive" notation of
IIII and VIIII.[5] Thus the numbers from 1 to 10 are generally written as

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X.[6]

The multiples of 10, from 10 to 100, are written according to the same pattern,
with X, L, and C taking the place of I, V, and X

X, XX, XXX, XL, L, LX, LXX, LXXX, XC, C.

Note that 40 is usually written XL ("10 less than 50") rather than XXXX, and 90 as
XC ("10 less than 100") rather than LXXXX.

Similarly, the multiples of 100, 100 to 1000, are written as

C, CC, CCC, CD, D, DC, DCC, DCCC, CM, M.

where CD is to be read as "100 less than 500" (that is, 400), and CM as "100 less
than 1000" (that is, 900).

Since the system has no standard symbols for 5,000 and 10,000, the full pattern
cannot be extended to the multiples of 1000 � restricting the "thousands" range of
"normal" Roman numerals to 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000:

M, MM, MMM.
A number containing several decimal places is represented, as in the Arabic system,
by writing its power-of-ten parts � thousands, hundreds, tens and units � in
sequence, from left to right, in descending order of value. For example:

39 = 30 + 9 = XXX + IX = XXXIX.
246 = 200 + 40 + 6 = CC + XL + VI = CCXLVI.
789 = 700 + 80 + 9 = DCC + LXXX + IX = DCCLXXXIX.
2,421 = 2000 + 400 + 20 + 1 = MM + CD + XX + I = MMCDXXI.
Any missing place (represented by a zero in the Arabic equivalent) is omitted, as
in Latin (and English) speech:

160 = 100 + 60 = C + LX = CLX

207 = 200 + 7 = CC + VII = CCVII
1,009 = 1,000 + 9 = M + IX = MIX
1,066 = 1,000 + 60 + 6 = M + LX + VI = MLXVI[7][8]
Roman numerals for large numbers are nowadays seen mainly in the form of year
numbers, as in these examples:

1776 = 1,000 + 700 + 70 + 6 = M + DCC + LXX + VI = MDCCLXXVI (the date written on

the book held by the Statue of Liberty).[9]
1954 = 1,000 + 900 + 50 + 4 = M + CM + L + IV = MCMLIV (as in the trailer for the
movie The Last Time I Saw Paris)[10]
2014 = 2,000 + 10 + 4 = MM + X + IV = MMXIV (the year of the games of the XXII
(22nd) Olympic Winter Games (in Sochi)
The current year (2019) is MMXIX.
The largest number that can be represented in this notation is 3,999 (3,000 + 900 +
90 + 9 = MMM + CM + XC + IX = MMMCMXCIX).[b]