Numerals

What it's for

Write a number as Roman numerals or in words, or read one back: for dates on buildings and film credits, writing a cheque, a quiz, or the numbers in another script.

For example, when a cornerstone says MDCCCXCVII, type it in to see that it’s 1897, and how it’s said in words.

How to use it

Type a number, a Roman numeral or a number in words, and every form appears with a Copy button:

• In words, the British way (one hundred and five) and the American way (one hundred five), for numbers up to the decillions; negative numbers start with “minus”.
• Roman numerals up to 3,999, and up to 3,999,999 with a bar over the thousands (V̅ is 5,000).
• Mayan (base 20, in the Unicode Mayan digits) and Babylonian (base 60, each place written in wedges).
• The digits of other scripts: Arabic-Indic, Devanagari, Bengali, Thai, Chinese, full-width and Tibetan.

Roman numerals must be written the standard way (IV, not IIII); the tool says what a non-standard one adds up to. Copy a link to this input keeps the number.

Example

Choose Try an example, which types MCMLXXXIV. The number is 1,984, in words one thousand, nine hundred and eighty-four, and in Mayan numerals 𝋤 𝋳 𝋤 (4 × 400, 19 × 20 and 4).

Good to know

Whole numbers only. Roman numerals have no zero or negatives. The Mayan and Babylonian forms need a font that has those Unicode characters, and Babylonian marks an empty place with ␣, as the scribes left a gap. Words are read back in English only.