by Trey Luerssen, FOXSports.com

Think about this — there was a point in human history when everyone counted in Roman numerals. What a confusing, convoluted world that must have been. No wonder the Roman Empire was conquered by a bunch of Barbarians. No, not the Oakland Raiders.

These days, you only see Roman numerals in a few places. They show up in the title of Star Wars movies, on a few clocks and watches and in the title of Super Bowls.

This year is Super Bowl XLI. Wouldn't it be simpler to just say Super Bowl 41? Maybe. Unless you have just completed 5th grade math, or are an expert in Roman history, you may not know what next year's Super Bowl title will be. Or for that matter, what the correct Super Bowl name will be in 15 years.

We're here to help. We want you to be the smartest person at your Super Bowl party. We want you to win bar bets by correctly reciting the Roman numerals for every Super Bowl for the next 50 years.

Roman Numerals
The easy part of Roman numerals is you only have to remember seven letters. All Roman numberals are written with a combination of:
I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500
M = 1000

One through three are written by just adding an extra "I", much like an addition math problem. For instance:

I = 1
II = 2
III = 3

Now it gets a little bit tougher. The Roman numeral for the number four is more like a subtraction problem. You subtract the first number (letter) from the second:

IV = 4

As you go forward in Roman numerals, you use a combination of those two rules. If smaller numbers follow larger numbers, the numbers are added. If a smaller number precedes a larger number, the smaller number is subtracted from the larger. For example:

VIII = 5+3 = 8
IX = 10-1 = 9
XL = 50-10 = 40
XC = 100-10 = 90

Still confused? Let's try this again. When a letter is repeated one, two, or three times, add up the value that many times:

XXX = 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
MM = 2000

V, L, and D cannot be repeated. I, X, C, and M can be repeated up to 3 times.

If you have the urge to repeat a letter 4 times, instead use that letter preceding one of the two next larger values:

For 4, don't use IIII, but instead IV
(I subtracted from V)
For 9, don't use VIIII or VIV, but instead IX
(I subtracted from X)

Similar rules apply for 40, 90, 400, 900. Write the resulting groups in descending order:

794 = 500 + 200 + 90 + 4
= D + CC + XC + IV
= DCCXCIV

Got it? OK, just so there are no questions, here is 1-100 and beyond spelled out: