QUESTION 5:
Is XLMCIIV a legitimate Roman-system representation of an integer?
Is XII even or odd?
Even. The representation does not change the properties the number (although it often makes it easier to determine those properties).
The decimal system is a positional notation for representing numbers. This means that the representation consists of a string of digits. The position of each digit in the string is significant. Think of each position as a numbered slot where a digit can go.
____4 ____3 ____2 ____1 ____0
Positional notation has many advantages.
It is compact:
"78" is shorter than "LXXIIX".
Computation is easy.
LXXIIX times XLIIV is hard to do using only the Roman system.
Is XLMCIIV a legitimate Roman-system representation of an integer?