Doing it in Roman numerals is a lot harder: DLXXIV × IX: first you have to unpack the subtractives IV and IX to form IIII and VIIII then you multiply each digit on the left by each on the right then you sort them in descending order and then you group up any IIIII's to make V's and so on. If you want to multiply 574 × 9, you can multiply 500 × 9, 70 × 9, and 4 × 9 and then add up the results. The big difference is in place value, which means you can calculate one digit at a time and add up the results quickly. First, not all numeral systems are created equal! It is actually a lot easier to do arithmetic with Hindu-Arabic numerals (the ones we use) than with Roman numerals, Mayan numerals, Greek-Hebrew numerals, or Babylonian numerals.
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