Big Integer Limitations

Discussions focus on the constraints of fixed-size integers like 32-bit and 64-bit in programming languages, overflows, and the need for big integer libraries or arbitrary-precision arithmetic.

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Keywords

GUID HN BigInt ML L227 IntMap ASCII L259 www.bing reddit.com integers 64 64 bit digits bit numbers length integer time probably bits

Sample Comments

ben0x539 Mar 11, 2020 View on HN

Almost all numbers aren't 53-bit integers (or smaller) :P

xvedejas Nov 20, 2023 View on HN

It depends what you mean by "numbers": all integers or just 64-bit ones?

blastonico Sep 12, 2024 View on HN

It's so big that you'll need a 64-bit variable to store that value.

tedunangst Jan 22, 2019 View on HN

That's long, not int. Approximately nobody has 64 bit int.

IshKebab Feb 8, 2019 View on HN

Clever. Is this possible with 64-bit numbers somehow?

user5994461 Apr 26, 2017 View on HN

Option 1 + Decide that you don't care about numbers bigger than 2 billion. Problem solved!

shiandow Aug 6, 2024 View on HN

Practical or not most default integer types do not support arbitrarily large numbers

jdndhdhd Sep 28, 2024 View on HN

Why is it 64 bit now? Isn't it know that 292277026596 would be the cutoff?

amelius Dec 4, 2016 View on HN

Perhaps a stupid question, but can't this be generalized to arbitrary size integers?

38 Jan 27, 2024 View on HN

because many programming languages dont support anything beyond 64 bit integers.