Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

You are technically correct, financial dudes like roman numerals but somewhere in history someone (probably someone reeeeeally powerful) started using MM for million and thus started the trend.

Aside, swiss watches tend to have a watch maker's four on them instead of the more correct IV... and apparently there are a bunch of other variations out there[1]. Though MM is still quite stupid.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#Variant_forms




I believe the thought behind MM is "a thousand thousand", using the roman numeral as if it were a positional digit.

Not sure how someone got the idea to do that...


Algebraically it makes sense I guess (M.M)




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: