Roman numerals?

Question

As a child I learned that the Roman numeral for the number four was IV, yet on many clocks and watches with Roman numerals on the face, the number four is shown as IIII. Any idea why?

Answer 1

Two possibilities which have been suggested at various times in the past are:

1. "IIII" is visually a better balance with the "VIII" opposite it.
2. It makes the total number of symbols 20 x I, 4 x V and 4 x X so the clockmaker could form them all from one simple mould "IIIIIVX" used four times.

Answer 2

Roman numerals changed over time.
IIII is the old way to write 4. IV is the newer one.
Clocks traditionally use IIII.

Answer 3

Roman numerals changed over time.
IIII is the old way to write 4. IV is the newer one.
Clocks traditionally use IIII.

Answer 4

As a frame of reference, I graduated from High School in 1966.

As I recall, I was taught that either presentation was OK, with IV being the preferred version. I always used IV as opposed the IIII. I thought it looked better.

Now in today's world, who knows?

Answer 5

There are many ways to write Roman numerals.
You can write 5 IIIII and it will still be correct.

But the shorter way they used was with letters. V is 5 and X is ten.
the I before the letter means "minus one" so IV is 5-1

Also, I after the letter is "plus one"and XII is twelve.

You could also write IIIIII IIIIII and it will be correct.

Answer 6

I = one
so IIII = 4
just a longer way to write it

Answer 7

IIII is just WRONG, that's why

Answer 8

easier to count and understand