Frank and Ernest by Thaves for June 12, 2012

… so what happened to IIX … ?? …

I think they’re doing a Gr8 job.

yeah, and what we eight four lent is none of your business

You will come out with the wrong answer most of the time.

This story is unsubstantiated, and I don’t remember where I read it, but it seems possible when one thinks of Roman numerals:During the Middle Ages, a father asked a scholar to recommend a university for his son. The answer was “Any university in Germany can teach him addition, but for multiplication you will have to send him to Italy.”.

Now it’s 00001000.

No that would be political speeches.

especially fractions

I think it’s just grviii

Claude Shannon, the creator of information theory and a giant in modern digital mathematics, invented a computer that calculated in Roman numerals. He named it “Throbac” for “Thrifty Roman-numeral Backward-looking Computer.”

Let the Lay off’s begin, one person can do the job of 4 and save money, increase profits, cut expenses, etc…

I am reminded of an old joke my son told when he was VI years old: Why did six hate seven? Because 7 8 9. (One has II say it to get it.)

And then there was the Arabic nurse who attached the 4 to the patient instead of the IV.

If 8 were lying down on the job, there would be no end to it.

Supposedly producers started using Roman numerals to obscure the fact that a movie released as “new” had actually been sitting on the shelf for a while.

@ AussieDownUnder: Don’t you mean GrVIII?

you think roman numerals is hard to do math with, try chinese without the abascus…and maybe with the abascus…i told my wife the other day that i got an abascus,,and she said " get out of here !! I don’t want no diseases around here !!! "

The ancient Romans were nothing if not superb engineers. But engineering takes a lot of complex math…so it’s really a good question: how the heck did they manage that with Roman numerals?

The argument gets reversed when it’s M vs 1000.

bmonk: They also cut grooves in merchant’s tables to use as an abacus. That is why we still call them counters.

Oh, man! I could’ve had a V8! (smacks forehead)

OMG…. 35 comments today for F&E…. I am smiing…. great comments all…. ! ! !

The rules for Roman Numerals allow for subtraction of smaller numbers from the upcoming larger numbers.

VIII is 5 plus 3

IIX is 10 minus 2

If you look at some old clocks, sometimes you’ll see the 8 shown as VIII, and sometimes you’ll see it as IIX.

Either way is acceptable.

I found an example of an old clock that uses IIX for 8.

There aren’t many, but they’re out there.

Old Clock