[fpc-pascal] Re: StrUtils.RomanToInt oddities

[Reinier Olislagers]

On 23/09/2013 23:34, Alberto Narduzzi wrote:
>> I don't believe though Romans knew negative numbers.
Well, they could subtract, couldn't they :)

>> But I'm certainly not an expert on the matter.
> 
> never though about, but if the only matter is DEBT, then just write 
> positive numbers under the DEBT column, and everybody shall be happy 
> too, provided they know the meaning of such a column ;-)
You just described an alternative indication of a negative number...
only instead of a minus sign, you use column position as an indicator ;)
To calculate net equity, you'd still have to subtract the debts from the
possessions, i.e. deal with the debt as negative numbers.

> P.S. Have no clue of roman arithmetics, thou', which looks a little
> more weird to implement, or just to think about :-O

I would be very careful in definining too many restrictions on what you
accept as Roman numerals as the number of fixed rules is rather small
and there are a lot of exceptions, especially in later years (i.e.
Bart's example of bigger numbers).
In other words, the system of Roman numerals was not fixed; it changed
over time, it was mostly based on conventions that fell short of actual
rules.