riddle number

Explain, pls.

If you consider Roman numerals 1 to 5 : Five times

1 to 5 : IIIIIIIVV

1. III --- III IV V
2. I -- III-- II IV V
3. II -- III ----I IV V
4. I II --- III --- IV V
5. I II I ---III -- V V

or you can spell it out and see how many times you can change the letters to come up with the spelling - three
one
two
three
four
five

or you can list the numbers
1
2
3
4
5
and say 3 is one time and 2 + 1 = 3 making it twice or variations of adding and subtracting to make 3 come up more than twice
????

i go up and down.