This topic will (probably somewhat slowly) acquire and contain orientation materials for those who are new to Lutheranism or simply to the Book of Concord. This first post will serve as an index of sorts.
Roman Numerals
You may never have learned Roman numerals in school (or out of school on your own). Here’s your crash course. n.b., this thread does not cover the entirety of the Roman numeral system; rather, it covers only what you need to know to understand the numbering used in Concordia
Roman numerals make use of several letters as ‘numbers’. These are as follows:
| 1 | 5 | 10 | 50 | 100 | 500 | 1000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | V | X | L | C | D | M |
These numbers can appear in uppercase or lowercase, and, as the above table indicates, have the following values:
| Uppercase | Lowercase | value |
|---|---|---|
| I | i | 1 |
| V | v | 5 |
| X | x | 10 |
| L | l | 50 |
| C | c | 100 |
| D | d | 500 |
| M | m | 1000 |
It is possible to render much larger numbers in Roman numerals, but they are unnecessary for reading Concordia.
Certain numbers can be written in multiple ways (e.g., 4 can be rendered as “iv” or “iiii”). Concordia uses, and so this post will follow, the standard method (which, in the case of 4, is “iv”).
| Uppercase | Lowercase | value | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| II | ii | 2 | |
| III | iii | 3 | |
| IV | iv | 4 | |
| VI | vi | 6 | |
| VII | vii | 7 | |
| VIII | viii | 8 | |
| IX | ix | 9 | |
| XI | xi | 11 | |
| XL | xl | 40 | |
| XLIX | xlix | 49 | Only a single smaller number may precede a larger as a subtracter. |
| LVIII | lviii | 58 | |
| LIX | lix | 59 | When four of the same number would occur in a row, a subtracter is used instead. |