Roman Numerals in Education: Should They Still Be Taught?

August 16, 2023

The home of Roman numerals is Rome. They have been used for centuries to express numbers in the European continent. People continued to use Roman numerals after the end of the Roman Empire into the Middle Ages. Roman numbers were, however, changed by Hindu-Arabic numerals in the 14th century. Although there was initially considerable opposition to this shift, it eventually gained acceptance since Arabic numerals had several benefits over Roman numerals in terms of practicality. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Roman numerical system and discover why it is still relevant in today’s digital and interconnected world.

Pros and Cons of Teaching Roman Numerals in Modern Education

Pros

Roman numerals are still relevant in modern education because of several reasons:

Roman numerals are used in book chapter headings, outline headers, and clocks like London’s “Big Ben” clock (Mollah, 2021).
Roman numerals are often used in clocks and watches to show the time. Roman numerals were also often used in mosaics and other architectural art forms. Roman numerals are still used in religious writings and objects, particularly in the Catholic Church. Examples include hymnals, parish records, or windows that show the year a structure was built or erected.
I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, and C = 100 are the equivalent symbols in the Roman numeral system (Mollah, 2021). Roman numerals have special meaning because of their historical usage in record keeping and the advent of new calendar-based systems in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Cons

However, there are some disadvantages to using the Roman numerical system in modern education:

Lack of Zero. One may find it unusual that the Roman numeral system lacked a sign to represent the number zero (0) in an age when Arabic numerals were widely used. Since there is no letter for zero, the Roman numerals only have seven symbols to represent the other numbers. This does not imply, however, that the Romans were ignorant of the idea of “nothingness.” The Latin term nulla, which means “none,” was used by the Romans anytime they wanted to convey zero or “nothingness” without using a particular symbol (4 Disadvantages, n.d.). The Romans communicated ‘nothingness’ on their counting boards (abacus) by applying empty spaces. Therefore, their absence of a zero was not a major issue at the time. Because the Roman numeral system is not positional like the Hindu-Arabic system, omitting the sign representing zero was also feasible. Roman numerals are a de facto ‘base ten’ numbering system. However, they are not stated using place value notation. As a result, this method did not need a particular “digit” to represent zero. However, 0 makes life simpler and more useful for scientific, daily, and notational reasons.
Difficult to Calculate. Without using or even considering Arabic numerals, try to solve the following equation: CCLXX + DCCCLXXXXVIII. Then think about 280 + 888. Roman numerals make dividing, adding, subtracting, or multiplying numbers difficult. While using an abacus made Roman numeral operations simpler, it was impractical for the average person to employ Roman numerals for routine computations or basic bookkeeping. However, using Hindu-Arabic numerals made it possible for illiterate people to comprehend and write numbers. Most significantly, it opened the door for developments in mathematics and other fields of science in the West.
Fractions. Roman numerals’ fairly complex method of recording fractions is a further limitation. The Romans utilized a base-12 or duodecimal system to denote fractions. The fractions were given spoken names as well. The base 112 was called “uncia” and was symbolized by a single dot before being known as “ounce.” Up to 12, represented by a capital S (for semis, which stands for half), dots were added one at a time to symbolize the fractions (4 Disadvantages, n.d.). Dots were added individually to represent the fractions until 1⁄2, signified with a capital S (for semis, meaning half). Dots were then added next to S after this point until I (1) was attained.
Still Difficult for Common People to Understand. Roman numeral understanding needs at least a rudimentary understanding of certain rules. For instance, writing even the simple number 174 (CLXXIV) would require knowing the symbol values and addition and subtraction (4 Disadvantages, n.d.). As was already established, this method of describing numbers left certain community members unable to even comprehend them, much less do mathematics, commerce, or accounting. It is thus not a coincidence that the merchant elite was fairly eager to adopt the Hindu-Arabic numerals for accounting in the 14th century.

Conclusion

To summarize, the Roman numerical system is still relevant in today’s digital world and should be taught in modern education. Although it has several disadvantages, such as a lack of zero, difficulty in calculation, and complexity in fractions, people still use this system in modern life in book chapter headings, outline headers, and on clocks. Moreover, Roman numerals are an integral part of our history and culture.

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