How did Romans do (advanced) math using Roman numerals?

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How did Romans do (advanced) math using Roman numerals?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I can’t speak to exactly how the Romans did it. But I do know of two ways people wrote math before the widespread standardization of math symbols.

1) Equations were often written out in a sentence, such that 4x² + 1/4, would be like “The sum of one fourth and a square of any number multiplied by four.”

2) Mathematicians had their own personal symbols. Depending on whether they wanted people to understand it or not, they sometimes explained what the symbols meant at the beginning of what they wrote. Eventually, some symbols began to be used by others.

This link may have some answers for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mathematical_notation#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DWritten_mathematics_began_with_numbers%2Cor_person%2C_or_anything_else.?wprov=sfla1

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