3.24. Module: Roman Numerals

Credit: Paul M. Winkler

There are many algorithms for creating Roman numerals. Example 3-2 presents the easiest-to-read algorithm that I've been able to find for this purpose: it establishes a mapping between integer values and Roman numerals, then counts how many of each value can fit into the input integer. The code uses two tuples for the mapping, instead of a dictionary, because it needs to go through them sequentially and doesn't care about random access. Thus, a dictionary would be more hindrance than help.