3 ms·
How is that nonsense? Is it not cumbersome to do long division with Roman numerals if your only tool indeed is a pen and paper? Or perhaps you are saying it no
by gugagore 8y ago
How is that nonsense? Is it not cumbersome to do long division with Roman numerals if your only tool indeed is a pen and paper?
Or perhaps you are saying it nonsense to start the discussion with the implicit assumption that the available tool is pen and paper, and not a counting board.
- jacobolus 8y ago> nonsense to start the discussion with the implicit assumption that the available tool is pen and paper Yes, that is right. Roman numerals do not make much sense in a paper-centric context where we have ditched counting boards. Any algorithms you might invent for working with Roman numerals on paper are anachronistic. Comparing invented straw-man uses of Roman numerals against real uses of Hindu–Arabic numerals is not fair or useful. It’s like making an argument that Lassie and Perry Mason are “better” than Verdi operas on the basis that the opera set designs are too elaborate and colorful, the action is too spread out, and the commercial breaks don’t flow with the story when you try to show the opera on small black and white TVs from the 1950s.