The Excel ROMAN Function

Function Description

The Excel ROMAN function converts an arabic number to Roman. I.e. for a supplied integer, the function returns a text string depicting the roman numeral form of the number.

The syntax of the function is:

ROMAN( number, [form] )

Where the arguments are as follows:

number

The number that is to be converted to a Roman numeral (must be an integer between 0 and 3999).

[form]

An optional argument that specifies the form of the Roman numeral returned.

If supplied, this must have one of the following values:

0	-	Classic form
1	-	More Concise
2	-	More Concise
3	-	More Concise
4	-	Simplified form
TRUE	-	Classic form
FALSE	-	Simplified form

If the [form] argument is omitted, it takes on the default value of 0 (denoting the classic form is used).

Note that if any of the arguments are input as decimal values, they are truncated to integers.

Roman Function Examples

In the following spreadsheet, the Excel Roman function is used to convert the number 1999 to different forms of Roman numerals.

Formulas:

	A
1	=ROMAN( 1999, 0 )
2	=ROMAN( 1999, 1 )
3	=ROMAN( 1999, 2 )
4	=ROMAN( 1999, 3 )
5	=ROMAN( 1999, 4 )

Results:

	A
1	MCMXCIX
2	MLMVLIV
3	MXMIX
4	MVMIV
5	MIM

Further examples of the Excel Roman function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.

Roman Function Error

If you get an error from the Excel Roman function this is likely to be the #VALUE! function:

Common Error

#VALUE!

Occurs if either:

The supplied number is < 0 or > 3999, or is non-numeric;

The supplied [form] argument is supplied but is invalid (i.e. is not one of the values 0, 1, 2, 3 4, TRUE or FALSE).

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