In order to write 2011 using Roman numerals, we first need to transform the number 2011 into the Roman numeral symbols that correspond to it.
To begin, let’s divide the year 2011 into its thousands, hundreds, and tens before moving on to its ones:
2011 = 2000 + 10 + 1
As Roman numerals do not have a separate sign for numbers that are bigger than 1000, the thousands digit is not required.
To represent the hundreds digit, we write “M” for 1000 and “CM” for 900. These symbols are “M” and “CM,” respectively. On the other hand, given that 2011 is a number smaller than 900, we do not need the “CM” sign. Instead, we make use of the sign “MM” to represent the year 2000, since this is the nearest multiple of 1000 that is lower than 2011:
2011 = MM + 10 + 1
The tens digit is then written out using the characters “X” for the number 10, and “L” for the number 50. As the value of the tens digit in 2011 is 10, we will simply represent it with the letter “X”:
2011 = MM + X + 1
In the last step of this process, we write the ones digit using the symbols “I” for 1, “V” for 5, “X” for 10, “L” for 50, “C” for 100, “D” for 500, and “M” for 1000. We choose the letter “I” to represent 2011 since the value of the ones digit in that year is 1.
2011 = MM + X + I
As a result, the year 2011 is written as MMXI in Roman numerals.
see also — What is the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of 8 and 20?
