Last we checked, the Roman Numeral for “4” was “IV” not “IIII”. If anybody has an explanation for this, please let us know.
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Last we checked, the Roman Numeral for “4” was “IV” not “IIII”. If anybody has an explanation for this, please let us know.
The Kenyon Thrill 
Clock faces that use Roman numerals normally show IIII for four o’clock but IX for nine o’clock,[10][11][12] a practice that goes back to very early clocks such as the Wells Cathedral clock. This is far from being an unvarying convention; the clock in Elizabeth Tower on the Palace of Westminster in London (aka “Big Ben”), for example, uses IV.[11]
thx agen wikipedia
Correct, fair Anonymous. Numerals like IIII derive from the fact that Romans seem to have preferred additive schemes to subtractive schemes (Wikipedia) because, as anyone who regularly uses Roman numeral will tell you, they are so much easier. Also, I’ve heard somewhere that one explanation for using IIII on clocks instead of IV is to create a more vertically symmetrical face with IIII and VIII.