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The system of Roman numerals originated in ancient Rome, and was adapted from Etruscan numerals. The system used in classical antiquity was slightly modified in the Middle Ages to produce the system we use today. It is based on certain letters which are given values as numerals. Trade and commerce were important to the ancient Romans, so from the time of learning to write, they needed a way to indicate numbers. The system they developed lasted many centuries, and still sees some specialized use today. Roman numerals often indicate the order of rulers or ships who share the same name (i.e. Queen Elizabeth II). They are also sometimes used in publishing for copyright dates, and even on cornerstones and gravestones. The Roman numbering system can also be seen in our languages, which still use Latin word roots to express numerical ideas; for example, unilateral, duo, quadricep, septuagenarian, decade, milliliter. In addition, Roman numerals are commonly used today in numbered lists (as in outlines), on clockfaces, on pages preceding the main body of a book, in chord triads in music analysis, for the numbering of movie sequels, the production date at the end of movie credits, and the numbering of some sport events – for example, the Olympic Games or the Super Bowl football games. The major differences between Roman and Arabic numerals (the ones we more commonly use today) are that Romans didn't have a symbol for zero, and that numeral placement within a number can sometimes indicate subtraction rather than addition. Roman numerals use a basic set of seven symbols: • I or i for one • V or v for five • X or x for ten • L or l for fifty • C or c for one hundred (centum) • D or d for five hundred • M or m for one thousand (mille) For the numbers not assigned a specific symbol, the above given symbols are combined: • II or ii for two • III or iii for three • IV, iv, IIII or iiii for four • VI or vi for six • VII or vii for seven • VIII or viii for eight • IX or ix for nine For very large numbers (five thousand and above), a bar is placed above a base numeral to indicate multiplication by 1000: • V for five thousand • X for ten thousand • L for fifty thousand • C for one hundred thousand • D for five hundred thousand • M for one million | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||