Roman numerals are so close to being in alphabetical order: (i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ___, x, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xvi, xvii, xviii, ___, xx)...
EXCEPT for those darn inversions where you have to write "ix" which screws it up.
I have Word documents named "i. ___", "ii. ____", "iii. ____", etc. and file #9 gets missorted into the wrong spot in the folder because "ix" looks lower than "v".
So, I invented "WIX" to stand in for the Roman numeral 9. My files stay sorted perfectly now!
Using WIX as 9, YXL as 40, ZL as 50, ZXC as 90, and ZYC as 100, you can make the first 400 Romans stay perfectly ordered. To interpret the number, simply ignore all the W's, Y's, and Z's. For example, "ZXC" = [ignore the Z] XC = 90.
Count with me below!
i ii iii iv v vi vii viii wix x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi xvii xviii xwix xx xxi 21 xxxwix 39 yxl 40 yxli 41 yxlii 42 yxliii 43 yxliv 44 yxlv 45 yxlvi 46 yxlvii 47 yxlviii 48 yxlwix 49 zl 50 zli 51 zlviii 58 zlwix 59 zlx zlxxxviii 88 zlxxxwix 89 zxc 90 zxcviii 98 zxcwix 99 zyc 100-- phundug, Jun 20 2005 Well thought out but the problem with using normal numbers is...?-- fridge duck, Jun 20 2005 I think if it's a choice between asking the world to revise a 2000 (??) year-old system of counting, and asking Mr. Gates to add one more feature to his fat software, then we ought to be calling Bill right now.-- Basepair, Jun 20 2005 IIRC, the Romans wrote their number 9 as viiii. This effete ix business is a much more recent variation.-- baconbrain, Jun 20 2005 So the problem is really a) Windows, for not recognizing Roman numerals, or b) you, for using Roman numerals on a computer
Of course, using Arabic numbers, you still have problems once you get to 10, but I'm not going to help you there.-- DrCurry, Jun 20 2005 //using Arabic numbers, you still have problems once you get to 10// MacOs understands numeric filenames, and will put "2file" before "10file" in a directory listing. Likewise "file2" appears before "file10" etc.-- Basepair, Jun 20 2005 I, also, have endured the pain of file renaming from: File1.abc File2.abc and so on, until I got to File10.abc
Then renamed them all to be File01.abc File02.abc until I got to File100.abc
Then renamed them all to be File001.abc File002.abc
Of course, after this, one tends to name files as File00000001.abc, just to make sure.-- Ling, Jun 21 2005 Just number your documents with binary numbers. Then you'll be alright. 00000000, 00000001, 00000010, 00000011, 00000100, etc.-- hippo, Jun 21 2005 There's also unary, which will have the benefit of elegantly indenting the newest files: 1 file 11 file 111 file 1111 file ...-- phundug, Jun 21 2005 I'm stunned by the simplicity of this, and can't wait to enter it into the running for my #1 idiosyncracy. So ... is the long division working for you?-- reensure, Jun 21 2005 great.-- po, Jun 21 2005 adopted as of --- now.
Also: no need to stop at 100. Although someone should check my work to make sure I didn't make a mistake. (I used alternating smalls and caps to make it easier on my eyes.)
zyCzyCzyC 300
zyCzyD 400
zyD 500
zyDzyC 600
zyDzyCzyC 700
zyDzyCzyCzyC 800
zzCzzM 900
zzM 1000
zzMzzMzzM 3000
zzMzzMzzMzzCzzMzXCwIX 3999
(why do I feel like I'm reading an Eastern European phone book?)-- Bootbuckles, Aug 10 2010 Many written languages have used their alphabets as numerals, including Greek, Hebrew and Gothic. We do it to some extent when we go "a), b), c)...".-- nineteenthly, Aug 10 2010 random, halfbakery