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I noticed earlier that a roman numeral (8) is written as VIII. It appears that it is more concise (less characters) to write it as IIX (meaning 2 before 10 instead of 3 after 5). Could someone give me guidance as to why it is written in the former way and not the latter?

This is my first time using this subsection of Stack Exchange, so sorry in advance if this is the wrong site for this type of question.

Joe Kerr
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    It actually is sometimes written IIX: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#Irregular_subtractive_notation – TKR May 23 '22 at 23:13
  • @TKR Thank you, I did not know that that was a way in which it was written. Just musing: if that is acceptable, why is the given spelling VIII? – Joe Kerr May 24 '22 at 21:48

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