Airfix

[jcf]

I refer the honourable gentleman to my earlier quote of the esteemed Andrew Ingleby that "people are retards."

I second and fully endorse my Right Honourable associate's statement

D'ya know I think it's more a case of people not having much of an idea of a particular subject and not bother to understand a little bit more about it before spouting off.  Therefore definitely lazy and/or careless.

Or simply not knowing that Mk. is the typical abbreviation for "mark" when used in the context of
different variants of a product and as such is pronounced like the word.

As to not understanding how to use and read Roman numerals, that's an entirely different matter.
😉

[NARSES2]

As to not understanding how to use and read Roman numerals, that's an entirely different matter.
😉

Yup. I'm fine until I get into the hundred's and more. I swear the Beeb and other entertainment companies use them on their copyright dates etc so people don't realise just how old the thing they are watching is 

[zenrat]

I can usually figure it out given time.  But I have no idea how they did maths.
Even addition is not simple.  Sure, you can workout what both the numbers are and do it in your head but i'm sure thats not how they did it.
Did the Romans have abacus?

[Gondor]

I can usually figure it out given time.  But I have no idea how they did maths.
Even addition is not simple.  Sure, you can workout what both the numbers are and do it in your head but i'm sure thats not how they did it.
Did the Romans have abacus?

From Wikipedia

"The Sumerian abacus appeared between 2700 and 2300 BC" so quite old.

As for Roman numerals, when I was in primary school in a small village in Scotland, a few decades ago, the Headmaster/teacher tought the older year he was looking after, the school was that smal that I was in a class that combined two years, there was still only five of us, how to do matchs using roman numerals rather than arabic numerals. It was not quite the Latin spelling scene in Life of Brian, but it was fun to do.

[zenrat]

Thanks mate.
Do you remember how to do it?

[Gondor]

Thanks mate.
Do you remember how to do it?

I take it you are talking about using Roman numerals rather than Arabic numbers for basic math's. Yes, but I always did it in my head rather than on paper. The carry one, or move a ten to  one side in long division can be interesting though.

[PR19_Kit]

The guys who ran the monster Elliot computer when I was at BR (It was about the size of a Ford Transit van and my watch is probably more powerful now....) wrote a programme that would print up a 'Roman Calculator' on the teletype!

You entered data by punching in the 'X', 'V', 'L', 'C', and 'I's and it typed out the answer also in Roman numerals. Totally bonkers. 

[scautomoton]

The guys who ran the monster Elliot computer when I was at BR (It was about the size of a Ford Transit van and my watch is probably more powerful now....) wrote a programme that would print up a 'Roman Calculator' on the teletype!

You entered data by punching in the 'X', 'V', 'L', 'C', and 'I's and it typed out the answer also in Roman numerals. Totally bonkers. 

This is what I love about working in Engineering. There is always someone with a warped sense of humour who does something super-techy that most people just don't get.

[NARSES2]

The guys who ran the monster Elliot computer when I was at BR (It was about the size of a Ford Transit van and my watch is probably more powerful now....) wrote a programme that would print up a 'Roman Calculator' on the teletype!

You entered data by punching in the 'X', 'V', 'L', 'C', and 'I's and it typed out the answer also in Roman numerals. Totally bonkers. 

Great fun though 

[kerick]

What if an archaeologist dug up some ancient scribe's scratch pad full of Roman math notes? It might just drive someone crazy!

[NARSES2]

What if an archaeologist dug up some ancient scribe's scratch pad full of Roman math notes? It might just drive someone crazy!

I'm not sure if Ancient Greek would be easier or more difficult ? They used the letters from their alphabet to represent numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals

[kerick]

What if an archaeologist dug up some ancient scribe's scratch pad full of Roman math notes? It might just drive someone crazy!

I'm not sure if Ancient Greek would be easier or more difficult ? They used the letters from their alphabet to represent numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals

Another brain bender! And they calculated the diameter of the earth this way.

[NARSES2]

Yup no wonder some of their leading scientific figures were so clever. They'd need to be to even start understanding the counting system 

[jcf]

Then there is the Mayan base 20 system, and they were the first to use zero.

[scautomoton]

Or Babylonian base 60. The good side is that most normal fractions are integers.