# Do kids still learn Roman numerals in school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746 "2017-01-09T19:06:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/1 "2017-01-09T19:06:26Z")
Just wondering. One of those things that can come in handy from time to time but generally not terribly useful. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/2 "2017-01-09T19:18:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Just wondering. One of those things that can come in handy from time to time but generally not terribly useful. Yes, learned in school. Now I can keep track of Royalty and Popes, and Super Bowls. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/3 "2017-01-09T19:22:07Z")
How else would one be able to read motion picture credits, cornerstones, and keep track of monarchs? And of course, what about Super Bowls? Except poor L, which got bumped by 50. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/4 "2017-01-09T20:24:19Z")
I suppose they must, otherwise how would they know XL is actually size forty? [Similar thread from MMX](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-574862.html). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/5 "2017-01-09T20:39:27Z")
I didn’t…and I graduated high school in the 70s. I learned Roman Numerals from the Encyclopedia Britannica. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/6 "2017-01-09T21:02:17Z")
We might have had 5 minutes to look at a handout about Roman numerals once during my entire K-12+college. It isn’t an important topic and anyone who is interested can learn it in, oh, 5 minutes or so, without professional help. Learning how to do math with Roman numerals is another story. I’m not sure even the Romans knew how to do that very well. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/7 "2017-01-09T21:09:15Z")
I graduated high school in 1995. I do not recall ever being taught Roman numerals in school. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/8 "2017-01-09T21:51:58Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I graduated high school in 1995. I do not recall ever being taught Roman numerals in school. I graduated HS in MCMLXXIII, learned them in elementary school, but still had to look it up (got it mostly right, but couldn’t remember L =50). ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/9 "2017-01-09T22:17:35Z")
I’m not sure how I learned them, but I’m pretty sure I already knew them when they taught them in school. I’ve never regretted knowing them, but you’re right that they aren’t very practical. I never have to look them up, even the hard ones like L and D, but every month I have to ask my friends, “Which are the one-eyed jacks?” and “Are you _sure_ a flush beats a straight?” (ETA: My friends and I are all old. We don’t go in for that kiddy-style Texas flip-flop poker. We play _real_ poker, like Baseball, Spit-in-the-Ocean, or Brian Snoddy’s Midget Porn.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/10 "2017-01-09T22:31:23Z")
A quick demonstration of the usefulness of Roman Numerals, thanks to The Frantics: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fjFaKD9BuOc/maxresdefault.jpg "The Frantics - Roman Numerals") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFaKD9BuOc) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/11 "2017-01-10T04:07:28Z")
Today I think its more a case of YMMV. I called a few cousins quick because I was curious and two districts taught them while two others did not. Or my cousins were sick that week. All questioned were under 20. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/12 "2017-01-10T05:21:09Z")
I see, from looking at porn, that it’s now a thing for young men to get tattoos of strings of roman numerals on their torsos. Except I couldn’t seem to figure out what number they were representing. Turns out they represent one digit at a time. Justin Bieber’s representation of his mom’s birth year is _ **not** _ MCMLXXV—but I IX VII V. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/13 "2017-01-10T10:14:40Z")
My eldest daughter learnt them last year, when she was 9. I think it’s good they still teach them, especially recognizing them and understanding how they work, but she also had to transcribe regular numbers into Roman numerals, which I thought was pointless. I mean it is important to be able to write I, V, X or XIX (for monarchs, Popes, and, in French, centuries) but CXXXVIII ? No use. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/14 "2017-01-10T10:58:30Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Today I think its more a case of YMMV. I called a few cousins quick because I was curious and two districts taught them while two others did not. Or my cousins were sick that week. All questioned were under 20. YMMV ??? -150 +1000 +1000 +5 = 1755 We didnt use Y when I was at school. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/15 "2017-01-10T13:12:27Z")
I honestly can’t remember, but I want to say I was never formally taught them. I graduated into high school in 00, and from high school in '04 FTR. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/16 "2017-01-10T13:53:12Z")
Back in the early MCMLXs we did Roman numerals in elementary school. Several of us had seen the real world representation of IIII on sundials that belied the concept that no IV numerals in row were used. Of course sundials were quite common then as well as wearing onions on our belts. It still takes me a moment to remember whether L or D represents XXXXX but the MCML… dates of yore are the clue for distinguishing them. [Here is a column from The Master](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1371/what-is-the-proper-way-to-style-roman-numerals-for-the-1990s)on the subject and the variation of representations of multiple digits and the definition of the single digits. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/17 "2017-01-10T14:03:20Z")
I was taught them in my English High School back in the 80s (weirdly in my English language class. Weird because I also had Latin lessons, but I didn’t learn them there). I find them pretty useful, but then maybe in Europe we have more old tombstones to admire. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/18 "2017-01-10T15:00:30Z")
I assume it is taught as a way of making sure kids understand numbers, just like those more modern ten boxes or whatever tey are called. If you can do the con versions, with the simple addition and subtraction involved, then you have a good grasp on those basics. And it’s different, which helps kids want to learn it. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/19 "2017-01-10T15:08:17Z")
Over winter break my brother and i taught my 6 year old how to write in Roman Numerals. He had it figured out in about 5 minutes. We all kinda got stuck on how to do 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746/20 "2017-01-10T15:16:04Z")
I think we spent an afternoon on roman numerals in late elementary school 40-ish years ago. The only use I’ve found for the skill is identifying copyright dates in movie credits. So for that I guess my valuation of the skill is about commensurate with the energy expended in learning it, and I’m grateful to that extent I took the time to learn it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-kids-still-learn-roman-numerals-in-school/776746.md?page=2)