How to Convert Roman Numerals to Numbers in Excel

ARABIC turns Roman numerals back into numbers so you can sort, compare and calculate with volume and chapter numbers.

You will learn to

• Convert a Roman numeral to a number
• Calculate the next numeral in a series
• Find the highest numeral in a list

How it works

ARABIC(text) converts a Roman numeral into an ordinary number: =ARABIC("XIV") returns 14. It is not case-sensitive, ignores leading and trailing spaces, and returns 0 for an empty string. Text that is not a valid numeral returns #VALUE!.

Roman numerals sort badly as text — "IX" comes before "V" alphabetically — so convert them first. Combine with ROMAN to step through a series (=ROMAN(ARABIC(B6)+1) gives the next volume) or with MAX to find the highest numeral in a list.

=ARABIC(B2)