How to Type Roman Numerals

It doesn’t matter how old Roman numerals (XIII, III, MDCXII) are or how some people find Arabic numerals (13, 3, 1612) simpler; the fact is that Roman numerals work, and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. While not used frequently in everyday tasks, Roman numerals are widely encountered in contexts like clocks, book chapters, movie sequels, and sporting events like the Super Bowl. Especially since much of what we do nowadays is on computers, many people need to know how to type Roman numerals on a computer.

Typing Roman numerals on a computer is not difficult—it is actually pretty easy! There are two different ways to go about it. One is extremely simple, while the other is slightly more sophisticated but uses fewer characters and only works in specific programs and areas of a computer. Here are the two methods:

Method 1: Type Roman numerals using their lookalikes in the Latin alphabet

The simplest way to type Roman numerals on a computer is to use the lookalikes of Roman numbers present in the Latin alphabet (the alphabet on an English language keyboard). This basically means you can use the capital letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M to type Roman numerals. As long as you know what each letter means in the Roman numeral system, typing Roman numerals using their lookalikes in the Latin alphabet should be easy.

Method 2: Type Roman numerals in Unicode

Unicode is a universal standard for encoding and representing text on computers, and Unicode includes almost every Roman numeral in its Number Forms Block. However, only certain programs and areas of a computer can convert Unicode into text, so this method can only be used in specific places (such as word processors like Microsoft Word, spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel, or when programming). To type Roman numerals in Unicode:

1. Find the Unicode character for the Roman numeral you need from the list here. Note the number without the “U+” prefix (e.g., for the Roman numeral VIII, use 2167).
   
2. Press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard.
3. While holding the Alt key, press X. The typed number will convert to its corresponding Roman numeral in supported applications like Microsoft Word.
   

Unlike typing Roman numerals using their lookalikes in the Latin alphabet, when you type Roman numerals in Unicode, each character counts as one entity in supported environments. For example, VIII written in Unicode counts as one character in some applications, whereas VIII written using the letters V and I on your keyboard counts as four separate characters.