>John A. Craft (<craft@NCS-SSC.COM>) wrote:

>Well, I may be Nvts (nuts), but if I had 50 16F876's I could say I had
>"L" of them or "C" of them if it were doubled.  But then again, I only
>see this stuff at the end of movies......

Which recalls the following proof:

Barney = CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR

Replaceing 'U' with 'V' in common Roman chiseled character fashion:

  CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR

Isolating the Roman digits:
  CV    V  L  DI    V

Collecting in decreasing order:

  DCLVVVI = 666

Q.E.D.: Barney is the AntiChrist


  On a more serious note, Roman digits are additive or subtractive, but
only within a limited range, and only 1's are added/subtracted, not 5's.
Addition of four successive 1's is rarely used, most notably on clocks, so
the 4:00 (IIII) more neatly balances the 8:00 (VIII). This closes the
sequence, by permitting one subtraction (IV) and three additions (VIII).
'I' may be added or subtracted with 'V' or 'X', but not 'L', 'C', 'D', or
'M'. Nor may 'V' be added or subtracted with 'X'. In the next decade, 'X'
may be added or subtracted with 'L' or 'C', but not 'D' or 'M'. MXM or MIM
may have been used commercially, but they aren't really "legal". 1999
should be written as MCMXCIX. 2000 is the "shortest" year since 1500 (MM,
MD). The "longest" year, I believe, was 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII).


--Dave