Roman Numeral Converter
Convert any whole number from 1 to 3999 into standard Roman numerals using subtractive notation.
- Roman numeral
- MCMXCIV
How it works
This builds the numeral greedily from a table of value/symbol pairs (M=1000, CM=900, D=500, CD=400, C=100, XC=90, L=50, XL=40, X=10, IX=9, V=5, IV=4, I=1), from largest to smallest: at each step it appends the symbol for the largest value that still fits into what's left of the number, and subtracts that value out, repeating until nothing remains.
The 'CM', 'CD', 'XC', 'XL', 'IX', and 'IV' entries are subtractive pairs — standard Roman numeral notation writes 900 as 'CM' (100 before 1000) rather than 'DCCCC' (four hundreds after 500), which is why the greedy table includes them explicitly rather than only the six base symbols.
Roman numerals have no standard symbol for zero, and there's no universally agreed notation for 4000 and above, so this calculator is limited to the conventional 1-3999 range every reference table covers.
FAQ
Why is 1994 written as MCMXCIV rather than MDCCCCLXXXXIIII?
Standard modern usage always applies subtractive notation where it's available — writing a smaller-value symbol before a larger one to mean 'subtract' (IV for 4, XC for 90, CM for 900) rather than repeating a symbol up to four times. MCMXCIV breaks down as M (1000) + CM (900) + XC (90) + IV (4) = 1994.