In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to work with large values in Python. This is useful for scenarios where you are dealing with numbers that are too large for the standard integer data type, such as in cryptography, number theory, or certain scientific calculations.
Python has built-in support for handling large values through its arbitrary-precision arithmetic, which is implemented in the bigint data type. We’ll cover the basics of working with large values and explore some examples to illustrate their usage.
Step 1: Create a Large Value
Creating a large value in Python is as simple as writing it out or calculating it. Python will automatically use the appropriate data type for large values. For example, you can create a large value by writing it out with a lot of digits:
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large_value = 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890 |
Alternatively, you can create a large value by performing calculations that result in big numbers:
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large_value = 2**1000 |
Step 2: Perform Arithmetic Operations on Large Values
Python supports arithmetic operations on large values just like it does on smaller integers. You can use the regular arithmetic operators (+, -, , /, //, %, and *) to perform calculations with large values.
For example, let’s perform some operations with our large_value:
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sum = large_value + 100 difference = large_value - 50 product = large_value * 2 division = large_value // 3 remainder = large_value % 5 power = large_value ** 2 |
Step 3: Convert Large Values to Different Numeric Types
You can convert large values to different numeric types using Python’s built-in functions. For example, you can convert a large value to a float or a complex number:
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float_value = float(large_value) complex_value = complex(large_value) |
Keep in mind that converting a large value to a float may result in a loss of precision, as the float data type has limited precision.
Full Code
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# Creating a large value large_value = 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890 # Performing arithmetic operations sum = large_value + 100 difference = large_value - 50 product = large_value * 2 division = large_value // 3 remainder = large_value % 5 power = large_value ** 2 # Converting large value to different numeric types float_value = float(large_value) complex_value = complex(large_value) print('sum: ' + str(sum)) print('difference: ' + str(difference)) print('product: ' + str(product)) print('division: ' + str(division)) print('remainder: ' + str(remainder)) print('power: ' + str(power)) |
Output
sum: 1234567890123456789012345678901234567990 difference: 1234567890123456789012345678901234567840 product: 2469135780246913578024691357802469135780 division: 411522630041152263004115226300411522630 remainder: 0 power: 1524157875323883675049535156256668194500533455762536198787501905199875019052100