The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom for October 20, 2022

Try doing math with them.

They’re fun to teach. The kids really get into them. Mind you, I’m speaking of many years ago.

I can see his reasoning! HEY! Where’s my beer?

It’s based on counting fingers. Hold up your left hand. Five fingers, right? Now trace down your thumb and up your little finger. You just made a “V,” which stands for five. Now hold up three fingers on your right hand next to your left hand. Eight fingers, right? “VIII.”Oh, X for ten? Two Vs with their points together. 5+5 = 10.

Thanks to Fibonacci we don’t have to struggle with Roman numerals. It’s easier to do math when your numerals aren’t wandering off the paper.

I remember the teacher giving the answer to that even though they just hinted at it without actually saying it. Back then numbers were Arabic, and the Roman Empire were more into conquering the Arabians rather than using their counting system!

It gets better, Wilburforce … like, why isn’t 9 VIIII instead of IX?

I made a point of learning Roman Numerals, as I always wanted to decipher the year a Movie or Television show was produced; these were commonly shown in the credits.

Ignoring the vowels my last name is mccllvm… i assume either that was an ancestor’s slave number or their tax roll number, and it simply persisted into modern times.

I know, it gets too hard when thee alphabet gets mixed in math… not really the same or is it. :D

iv sure…

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it

Umm, I’m guessing Junior doesn’t know our numbers, e.g., “8” are Arabic, and the Roman numerals are just one number…actually very funny in a subtle way. Well done Mssrs. Samson.

III out of IV people surveyed think roman numerals should be LXXXVI’d.

And zero placeholders!

Roman numerals are another thing my grandchildren will learn from me when they are old enough. Keep those brains active and curious!

He’s correct. That’s why we adapted Arabic numerals. However, they built fantastic structures and a great civilization using Roman numerals…..

Have fun, Wilberforce.

Try binary Wilberforce…

They managed quite well. Me not so much.

Must be before numbers were invented!!!! HAH!

It’s basically only useful in knowing what super bowl you’re watching.

Trust me Wilberforce, Roman Numerals are not the most useless thing you are going to learn during your academic career.

Try writing a year out lad … like oh, 1997 … MCMXCVII

I only got up to 5 since all the Rocky movies after that stopped using them. Maybe the Creed movies will go higher.

Brutus should tell him that Roman numerals were invented so the NFL could use them on Super Bowls.

When in Rome…oh, wait…we’re not.

That’s why they changed it,

You cannot make the unnecessary work better than the simple. Straight line is still quickest between two points. Meandering often a waste of time.

Interesting logic from the kid!

He’s not wrong.