Wait… is 32 written as XXXII? I had to check this in the middle of all the chaos
This came up while we were in the car, actually… stuck at a signal that just wouldn’t turn green.
There was this auto in front of us with something hanging off the back. I kept looking at it because it felt like it might fall any second.
And from the back seat she just said it.
“Amma… 32 in Roman numerals… what is it?”
No build-up, nothing.
I didn’t even turn immediately. Just said, “Hmm?”
Then she repeated it, louder this time, like now it had become urgent.
I don’t know why but I said, “Wait… I know this…” and then I realised I was not fully sure in that exact moment.
It was there… but not coming cleanly.
She had her small notebook open on her lap… don’t ask me how she writes in a moving car, the handwriting itself becomes something else… and she had written 32 and below that something like “XXII” and then scratched it out very aggressively.
“This is wrong, I think,” she said.
And I remember thinking, okay, good, at least she knows it’s wrong.
I said, “Okay, okay, don’t rush… let’s see.”
The signal still hadn’t changed.
Also the car next to us had some loud music playing and for a second she got distracted and started listening to that instead… I had to call her twice to bring her back.
Trying to remember without pretending
I didn’t want to just say something random and then correct it later. That feels worse somehow.
So I asked her, “What is 32 made of?”
She said it immediately, like she had been waiting for that question.
“30 and 2.”
Then she looked out of the window for one second because a dog crossed the road, then came back.
I said, “Okay… write that.”
And she wrote, a bit slanted because the car moved slightly:
30 =
2 =
Then she just stared at the page.
She also erased the “2” once for no reason and rewrote it… I didn’t ask why.
So I said, “What is 10 in Roman numerals?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then slowly, “X…”
“Okay,” I said, “then 30?”
Now she started counting on her fingers, like actually counting.
“One… two… three…”
“And three X?”
She wrote:
XXX
Then below that:
2 = II
That part she didn’t even think about.
Then she just kept looking at both like they were two separate things.
The signal turned green at that exact moment, and someone behind honked, so I moved the car, and for a few seconds, we both forgot about it.
Then again, from the back, “Ammaaaa…”
I said, “Yes, yes… continue.”
Read More – The Importance of Math in Everyday Life
That moment where they almost get it
She had written:
XXX
II
And then added a plus sign.
XXX + II
Then she stopped again.
“I don’t know if we just join it,” she said.
I didn’t answer immediately.
She looked again… and then slowly, like testing…
She actually wrote it once as XXIIX first… then immediately frowned and scratched it out.
Then again, slower this time…
XXXII
She leaned forward slightly, “Is this right?”
I said, “Yes. That’s right.”
And that was it.
No big reaction.
She just closed the notebook halfway because it was slipping anyway, and then asked me if we can have ice cream later.
How to write 32 in Roman numerals (the way we actually figured it out)
We didn’t do anything fancy.
We just took 32
Split it into 30 and 2
Then:
30 became XXX
2 became II
Put together:
XXXII
That’s how to write 32 in Roman numerals.
Even saying it now feels simple.
But in that moment, it was not so straightforward.
It was a bit of thinking, a bit of checking, a bit of “wait, is this correct?”.
Also, that slight fear of saying the wrong thing and then having to undo it… I don’t know why that always feels bigger than it is.
Read More – Teaching Kids About Roman Numerals
That small doubt kids have
At one point, she asked, “But how do we know it’s not something else?”
So I showed her quickly:
10 = X
20 = XX
30 = XXX
She looked at it for a few seconds.
Then said, “Oh… it just keeps adding.”
And that was enough.
Then she went back to looking outside again.
All the tiny interruptions in between
At some point she dropped the pencil again… I think third time that day… and it went under the seat and she tried to pick it with her foot.
Didn’t work.
Then laughed.
Then forgot what she was doing for a second.
Then came back.
Also, she randomly asked me if 100 has a Roman numeral… right in the middle of this… I said yes, but told her we’ll do that later because otherwise we’ll lose track completely.
It’s always like this.
Nothing happens in a straight line.
Later, when it comes back on its own
At night, I had completely forgotten.
Then she suddenly said, out of nowhere,
“32 is XXXII, no?”
I said yes.
She didn’t even look properly.
Just continued doing whatever she was doing.
So clearly it stayed.
Somewhere.
Read More – Roman Numerals 1 to 50
And Then It Just Becomes One of Those Small Things
Later I saw her notebook again.
Page slightly bent.
XXXII sitting there quietly.
No extra markings, nothing dramatic.
And I don’t know… it reminded me of something small… like how at that preschool stage, like at EuroKids Preschool, they don’t really learn Roman numerals of course… but they do get used to breaking things into parts, counting, noticing patterns in very simple ways. It’s one reason many parents exploring Eurokids Preschool Admission look for strong early learning foundations that build confidence with numbers naturally.
Maybe that’s why when these slightly bigger things come later, they don’t feel completely new.
I think that early comfort with numbers… just playing with them, not getting scared of them… it matters more than we realise.
Even now when she asks something like how to write 32 in Roman numerals, it doesn’t feel like a brand new thing to her.
More like… something she can figure out if she just sits with it for a bit.
And then she moves on again, like it was nothing.
