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COMPVTER ROMANVS

 

Friends!  Romans!  Geeks!
Caesar has proclaimed Compvter Romanvs to be the official calcvlator of the Roman Empire. Yov now have at yovr disposal the latest in high technology to assist in all manner of nvmerical problems. Yes, whether yov're bvilding a road, designing an aqvadvct, or covnting yovr gladiators, Compvter Romanvs will make the job easier.

Error Codes
From time to time, yov may notice a blinking nvmber in the calcvlator display; this is an error code cavsed by a barbarian performing an invalid operation. Here is a table of the error codes along with their meanings:
I Indicates an overflow condition. An operation has resvlted in a qvantity greater than the largest nvmber that exists
(Max roman numeral).
II Indicates an vnderflow condition. An operation has resvlted in a qvantity smaller than the smallest nvmber that exists (I).
III Indicates that the vser has entered an invalid seqvence of nvmerals.

To clear the error, press the key with the small "c" on it. Repeated errors will resvlt in the vser being thrown to the lions.

Help, troubleshooting, and questions

Nvmeral Valves
The following table gives the valves of the variovs nvmerals. When a bar appears above a nvmeral, its valve is increased a thovsandfold.

Nvmeral Valve With Bar
I One (Invalid)
V Five Five thovsand
X Ten Ten thovsand
L Fifty Fifty thovsand
C One hvndred One hvndred thovsand
D Five hvndred Five hvndred thovsand
M One thovsand One million

Nvmeral Syntax
Vse the following gvidelines to constrvct and evalvate qvantites expressed in Roman Nvmerals:

I Generally speaking, smaller nvmerals follow larger nvmerals (see rvle III below). In svch cases, add vp the valves of the nvmerals to determine the qvantity represented.
II Nvmerals which are powers of ten (I, X, C, etc.) can be repeated VP to three times in a row; other nvmerals cannot be repeated.
III In certain cases, a smaller nvmeral may precede a larger one. Evalvate these expressions by svbtracting the smaller nvmeral from the larger one. A smaller nvmeral can be placed before a larger one only if ALL of the following conditions are met:
-- The smaller nvmeral mvst be a power of ten.
-- The smaller nvmeral mvst be either one-fifth or one-tenth the valve of the larger one.
-- The smaller nvmeral mvst either be the first nvmeral in the expression, or be preceded by a nvmeral of at least ten times its valve.
-- If another nvmeral follows the larger nvmeral, it mvst be smaller than the one that precedes the larger nvmeral.

 

Author: Ed Hobbs Copyright © MCMXCVII Edward R. Hobbs

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What Happened to the "U"s?
In the interests of providing an authentic experience, all the letter "u"s have been replaced with "v"s, except for the help section. The Roman alphabet has no letter u. Please don't write and tell us they didn't have calculators, either!

 

  
 
 
  

 
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