Roman math

[Catiline]

how htey did the maths I'm not too sure about, but they did have conventions for numbers that avoided the MCMDXCVIII problem at least to an extent. 20, 000 could be notated with a superscript line above XX, 200,000 by XX with a superscript line and vertival lines on each side, which multiplied the contents by 100, 000.<br>
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M wasn't used as a figure so that M in 1998 above would have been a nonsense, they used the figure modern maths uses for infinity, that is to say a figure of 8 on its side.<br>
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The next bit is lifted from OCD<br>
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Apparently they could do fractions so long as the denominator was a factor of twelve, at least in common usage a system called <i> sigla</i>. They used horizontal lines, - was 1/12<br>
= was 1/6, S was 1/2 apparently from <i> semis</i><br>
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Other fractions were represented by putting these together ie 5/12 was ==- 2/3 was S=-<br>
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Smaller fraction had different sigla invented, you'll need epigraphic handbooks to find out those.<br>
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The Greks of course had algebra, and this continued to the Romans. Ofcourse you don't need numbers for that which solves one problem<br>
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