What is the correct notation of 19 in Roman numerals if it is not XIX?

Answer 1

Under todays terms and conditions compliant with the Roman numera system the equivalent of 19 in Roman numerals is officially XIX because X = 10 and IX = 9. Then if 10+9 = 19 so it logically follows that X+IX = XIX. But this would only hold true if the Roman numeral system had a zero symbol for place value purposes which it has not.

The truth of the matter is that the ancient Romans would have worked out 19 as XVIIII and then abridged it to IXX in written format as the Latin language itself confirms as follows:

XVIIII = novemdecim which in English means nineteen

IXX = undeviginti which in English means one from twenty

Todays rules governing the Roman numeral system had actually nothing to do with the Romans themselves because they were compiled and introduced during the Middle Ages over a thousand years later after the fall of the Roman Empire.

QED by David Gambell