The incipit of a chatty column in the Herald Democrat:

We haven’t determined the age range yet and heaven knows we’ve conducted a far less than scientific study of the phenomenon, but it seems one’s knowledge of Roman numerals declines the younger one is.

However, even the youngest employees here recognize that the funny number at the end of movies has something to do with when it was released. I guess with all the TAKS, TAAS, TEAMS standardized testing going on over the past 20 years, Roman numerals are disappearing from curricula like cursive handwriting and civics.

Those of us who have studied Roman numerals debated recently about what was the largest possible Roman numeral. Being 21st century Americans, we entered this debate armed only with our opinions. The concensus: Something like 8,888. The thinking was that Roman numeral count I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX. The sequence continues in a like manner with V being 5, X being 10; L being 50; C being 100; D being 500 and M being 1,000.

If the sequence continued that far, 8,888 would be MDCCCCDCCCLXXXVIII, we thought. Actually, we didn’t think so much as we just mentally shot from the hip and guessed.

Then we looked to the Internet for some guidance. As with most everything we’ve tried to figure out, some help was available via the World Wide Web. Alas, the Roman Numeral Converter on IVTech.com reaches only 4,000. Being better versed in the Web than in either math or Roman thought, we checked the FAQ (frequently asked questions) and learned that, although the converter goes to 4,000, those smart Romans provided for huge numbers.

“The standard Roman numerals max out at 4,999, Beyond 4,999, a horizontal bar is placed over the numeral, which multiplies it by 1,000. So 5,000 is written, well, gee whiz, there’s no character on this computer that can write 5,000 or one million. But we’ll take IVTech’s word for it: Romans counted big.

Well, yeah ... remember this bit from the Res Gestae (which also shows how a Roman handled writing large numbers):

Senatum ter legi, et in consulatu sexto censum populi conlega M. Agrippa egi. Lustrum post annum alterum et quadragensimum feci, quo lustro civium Romanorum censa sunt capita quadragiens centum millia et sexaginta tria millia. Tum iterum consulari cum imperio lustrum solus feci C. Censonno et C. Asinio cos., quo lustro censa sunt civium Romanorum capita quadragiens centum millia et ducenta triginta tria millia. Et tertium consulari cum imperio lustrum conlega Tib. Caesare filio meo feci Sex. Pompeio et Sex. Appuleio cos., quo lustro censa sunt civium Romanorum capitum quadragiens centum millia et nongenta triginta et septem millia. Legibus novis me auctore latis multa exempla maiorum exolescentia iam ex nostro saeculo reduxi et ipse multarum rerum exempla imitanda posteris tradidi.

(Latin Library text)