Most modern cultures use Arabic numerals, which makes it the most common numeral system in the world. It was developed by Indian mathematicians in AD 500, that's why the system is also called Indo-Arabic. Roman numbers, developed in ancient Rome, were widely used in Europe in Late Middle Ages. The number 2016 can easily be converted from the Arabic system into the Roman. All you need is just several symbols:

  1. M - 1000
  2. X - 10
  3. V - 5
  4. I - 1

Symbols are placed from left to right in order of value, starting with the largest. However, in a few specific cases, to avoid four characters being repeated in succession (such as IIII or XXXX), subtractive notation is often used as follows:

  • I placed before V or X indicates one less, so four is IV;
  • X placed before L or C indicates ten less, so forty is XL;
  • C placed before D or M indicates a hundred less, so four hundred is CD.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org