Start big and work your way down: When reading Roman numerals, scan from left to right, dealing with the largest values first. Take XIV as an example: that's 10, then 5, then subtract 1, giving ...

Let's decode some actual Roman numerals you might encounter: VIII = 8 This reads as 5 + 1 + 1 + 1. The V gives us five, then we add three I's. XII = 12 Here we have 10 + 1 + 1. The X provides ten ...