Week+1

Welcome to Week 1!
__**Lesson 1**__ We'll begin the year by learning how to convert to and from Roman numbers. One thing you won't do is learn how to multiply or divide Roman numbers (even adding and subtracting is pretty hard). In fact, though the Romans were considered great engineers and even made advances in medicine, our world didn't really change until later -- when our number system became more modern. Science advanced as math did -- which is why the great mathematician Karl Gauss called math the queen of the sciences.

Anyway, Roman numbers were used primarily for counting. Even that got difficult if the numbers got very large. As you go through the lesson, look how many digits it takes to make 4248, for example. It will take more than the four we just used.

Still, we do use Roman numbers even today. They're mostly "ornamental." We see them on clocks, on our paper money, for copyright dates on films, and even to tell us which Super Bowl we're going to watch.

So, while you might actually have a reason to convert to or from Roman numbers, there are other reasons: It highlights how different our number system is (and how much more useful), and It's a great exercise to take the summer's rust off your math skills as we get ready for a new and exciting year of math.

The presentation below covers the same material you saw in class today. It's there if you want a quick review, but you can skip right past it if you want.

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You can practice your conversion skills below. Don't forget: you can review by logging into Compass and by going through the presentation above. (Make sure to allow "blocked content." Also, if the constructions don't come up after a while, try another browser.)

Good luck!

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