Maths Library

Roman Numerals: Year 5 maths

Pupils learn to interpret, construct, and convert Roman numerals up to 1000. Exercises reinforce additive and subtractive notation principles through historical dates, clocks, and ordinal contexts.

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What this covers

Roman Numerals is taught in Year 5 (age 9 to 10, KS2) as a main teaching focus. It sits in the Number strand.

Worked example

Write 44 in Roman numerals.

  1. Partition the number into tens and units: 40 and 4
  2. Represent 40 using subtractive notation: XL
  3. Represent 4 using subtractive notation: IV
  4. Combine the parts: XLIV

Answer: XLIV

Difficulty scale

The sheet generator offers five difficulty settings for this topic.

  1. Read and write basic symbols I, V, X up to 20
  2. Numerals up to 100 incorporating L and C with additive principles
  3. Subtractive notation cases such as IV, IX, XL, and XC up to 100
  4. Numerals up to 1000 using D and M (including historical years)
  5. Addition and subtraction arithmetic expressed directly in Roman numerals

Common mistakes

  • Repeating a symbol more than three times instead of using subtractive notation (e.g. IIII instead of IV)
  • Subtracting letters across improper place-value boundaries (e.g. writing IL for 49 instead of XLIX)

Curriculum links

Indicative matches to National Curriculum for England. Check wording and codes against the official document.

  • Read Roman numerals to 1,000 (M) and recognise years written in Roman numerals.

Sample sheet and answers

Six questions at the level's usual difficulty. Open the editor to change, add or regenerate any of them.

Roman Numerals

Year 5 maths

Qs
6
Marks
18
NameDateScore / 18
1.
Write 3266 in Roman numerals.
[3]
2.
Write MDLVIII as a number.
[3]
3.
Write 3419 in Roman numerals.
[3]
4.
Write 3851 in Roman numerals.
[3]
5.
Write MMMCCII as a number.
[3]
6.
Write 1829 in Roman numerals.
[3]

Answer key

  1. MMMCCLXVIBuild 3266 from the largest symbols down; 3266 = MMMCCLXVI
  2. 1558Add the symbols, subtracting where a smaller one comes first; MDLVIII = 1558
  3. MMMCDXIXBuild 3419 from the largest symbols down; 3419 = MMMCDXIX
  4. MMMDCCCLIBuild 3851 from the largest symbols down; 3851 = MMMDCCCLI
  5. 3202Add the symbols, subtracting where a smaller one comes first; MMMCCII = 3202
  6. MDCCCXXIXBuild 1829 from the largest symbols down; 1829 = MDCCCXXIX