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Herbert,
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<div class="">I don’t know about the Romans but the late Claude Shannon decided to create a Roman numeral calculator (part of our collections - see
<a href="https://webmuseum.mit.edu/detail.php?term=Throbac&module=objects&type=keyword&x=0&y=0&kv=75603&record=0&module=objects" class="">
https://webmuseum.mit.edu/detail.php?term=Throbac&module=objects&type=keyword&x=0&y=0&kv=75603&record=0&module=objects</a>) he called THRoBAC for Thrifty Roman numeral BAckwards-looking Computer. </div>
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<div class="">Debbie Douglas</div>
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<div class="">On Feb 20, 2019, at 3:36 PM, <a href="mailto:herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch" class="">
herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch</a> wrote:</div>
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<p class=""><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="trebuchet ms,sans-serif" class="">How did the Romans calculate?</font></span></b></p>
<p class=""><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="trebuchet ms,sans-serif" class=""><a href="https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/234881-how-did-the-romans-calculate/fulltext" class=""><font color="#0000ff" class="">https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/234881-how-did-the-romans-calculate/fulltext</font></a> </font></span></p>
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<p class="">Hi all:</p>
<p class="">Does anyone know how the Romans calculated with the Roman numeral system?</p>
<p class="">What is the meaning of the right-most slot of the Roman hand abacus?</p>
<p class="">Do you have Roman hand abaci (original devices or replicas) in your collection? </p>
<p class="">Thank you very much for your help.</p>
<p class="">Best wishes,</p>
<p class="">Herbert Bruderer</p>
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<div style="word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><font class="x_Apple-style-span"><font class="x_Apple-style-span"><font class="x_Apple-style-span" size="1"><b class="">Deborah G. Douglas, PhD </b></font><font class="x_Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica-Light" size="1">•</font></font><font class="x_Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica-Light" size="1"> Director
of Collections and Cu</font></font><font class="x_Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica-Light" size="1">rator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum; Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge,
MA 02139-4307 • <a href="mailto:ddouglas@mit.edu" class="">ddouglas@mit.edu</a> • 617-253-1766 telephone • 617-253-8994 facsimile • <a href="http://mitmuseum.mit.edu" class="">http://mitmuseum.mit.edu</a> • <a href="http://museum.mit.edu/150" class="">http://museum.mit.edu/150</a></font></div>
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