What does MCXLII mean?

MCXLII is the Roman numeral for 1,142 — 1000 + 100 + 40 + 1 + 1.

How do you write 1142 in Roman numerals?

Take the largest value that fits and repeat until nothing is left: M (1000), then C (100), then XL (40), then I (1), then I (1). That gives MCXLII.

1,142 in Roman numerals

MCXLII

Number (1–3,999 for numerals)

Roman numeral

1,142 is written MCXLII in Roman numerals. That is 5 symbol groups added together, reading left to right from the largest value down.

How it breaks down

MCXLII = 1000 + 100 + 40 + 1 + 1 = 1,142
Group	Value	Subtraction	Running total
M	1,000	—	1,000
C	100	—	1,100
XL	40	L − X	1,140
I	1	—	1,141
I	1	—	1,142

Why the smaller symbol comes first

MCXLII uses subtractive notation in one place: XL means L minus X, or 40. A smaller symbol placed before a larger one is subtracted from it rather than added, which is why IX is nine and not eleven.

Only six such pairs are valid — IV, IX, XL, XC, CD and CM. That restriction is what makes the notation unambiguous: IIII and IC both look like they should work, but neither is standard, and only one spelling of any number is correct.

The symbols

Symbol	Value	Used here
I	1	yes — 2×
V	5	no
X	10	yes — 1×
L	50	yes — 1×
C	100	yes — 1×
D	500	no
M	1,000	yes — 1×

The same number, other ways

In words: One thousand one hundred forty-two
Roman numeral: MCXLII
Symbol count: 6 characters
Binary: 10001110110
Hexadecimal: 476

The numbers either side

Number	Roman numeral
1,140	MCXL
1,141	MCXLI
1,142	MCXLII ←
1,143	MCXLIII
1,144	MCXLIV

Common questions

What is 1142 in Roman numerals?: 1,142 is MCXLII.
What does MCXLII mean?: MCXLII is the Roman numeral for 1,142 — 1000 + 100 + 40 + 1 + 1.
How do you write 1142 in Roman numerals?: Take the largest value that fits and repeat until nothing is left: M (1000), then C (100), then XL (40), then I (1), then I (1). That gives MCXLII.

Sources

Calculated on this page — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked