Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

bignum
     
         /big'nuhm/ (Originally from {MIT} {MacLISP}) A
        {multiple-precision} computer representation for very large
        integers.
     
        Most computer languages provide a type of data called
        "integer", but such computer integers are usually limited in
        size; usually they must be smaller than 2^31 (2,147,483,648)
        or (on a {bitty box}) 2^15 (32,768).  If you want to work with
        numbers larger than that, you have to use {floating-point}
        numbers, which are usually accurate to only six or seven
        decimal places.  Computer languages that provide bignums can
        perform exact calculations on very large numbers, such as
        1000! (the factorial of 1000, which is 1000 times 999 times
        998 times ... times 2 times 1).  For example, this value for
        1000! was computed by the {MacLISP} system using bignums:
     
        40238726007709377354370243392300398571937486421071
        46325437999104299385123986290205920442084869694048
        00479988610197196058631666872994808558901323829669
        94459099742450408707375991882362772718873251977950
        59509952761208749754624970436014182780946464962910
        56393887437886487337119181045825783647849977012476
        63288983595573543251318532395846307555740911426241
        74743493475534286465766116677973966688202912073791
        43853719588249808126867838374559731746136085379534
        52422158659320192809087829730843139284440328123155
        86110369768013573042161687476096758713483120254785
        89320767169132448426236131412508780208000261683151
        02734182797770478463586817016436502415369139828126
        48102130927612448963599287051149649754199093422215
        66832572080821333186116811553615836546984046708975
        60290095053761647584772842188967964624494516076535
        34081989013854424879849599533191017233555566021394
        50399736280750137837615307127761926849034352625200
        01588853514733161170210396817592151090778801939317
        81141945452572238655414610628921879602238389714760
        88506276862967146674697562911234082439208160153780
        88989396451826324367161676217916890977991190375403
        12746222899880051954444142820121873617459926429565
        81746628302955570299024324153181617210465832036786
        90611726015878352075151628422554026517048330422614
        39742869330616908979684825901254583271682264580665
        26769958652682272807075781391858178889652208164348
        34482599326604336766017699961283186078838615027946
        59551311565520360939881806121385586003014356945272
        24206344631797460594682573103790084024432438465657
        24501440282188525247093519062092902313649327349756
        55139587205596542287497740114133469627154228458623
        77387538230483865688976461927383814900140767310446
        64025989949022222176590433990188601856652648506179
        97023561938970178600408118897299183110211712298459
        01641921068884387121855646124960798722908519296819
        37238864261483965738229112312502418664935314397013
        74285319266498753372189406942814341185201580141233
        44828015051399694290153483077644569099073152433278
        28826986460278986432113908350621709500259738986355
        42771967428222487575867657523442202075736305694988
        25087968928162753848863396909959826280956121450994
        87170124451646126037902930912088908694202851064018
        21543994571568059418727489980942547421735824010636
        77404595741785160829230135358081840096996372524230
        56085590370062427124341690900415369010593398383577
        79394109700277534720000000000000000000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
        000000000000000000.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1996-06-27)