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Not so much a pattern, more of a scheme.

A small number placed in front of a larger one means minus.

So that IX means -1 +10 = 9

and MCM means 1,000 + (-100 +1,000) = 1,900.

This wasn't always so when the Romans were using the system, but it eventually became standardised.

Nowadays it is always true.

Another 'scheme' was that for numbers above 4,000 a bar was put above the letter to indicate that it was multiplied by 1,000, so that ....

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V = 5,000

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X = 10,000 and so on

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17y ago

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