# How to typeset large numbers

I need to typeset some very large numbers that span a number of lines, is there a way in LaTeX to do this?

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Do you need the subsequent lines to wrap around the numbers? –  Emre Apr 15 '11 at 19:28
–  Caramdir Apr 15 '11 at 19:29
@Emre yes they have to wrap. –  mathspasha Apr 15 '11 at 19:39
@Caramdir Thanks, I will have a look. –  mathspasha Apr 15 '11 at 19:40
@mathpasha I am not sure, if you are looking to typeset, big integers or large sized numbers as in font-size. Can you please clarify? –  Yiannis Lazarides Apr 15 '11 at 19:49

For typesetting large integers you can use the package numprint.

You will need to set the thousands separator to your liking (I have used a space).

Here, is a minimal that can do this. The number was generated using Heiko Oberdiek's bigintcalc. The sample number is the 1279 Mersenne number calculated with the macro \Mersenne, shown in the minimal below. As this is calculated using a power function it takes about 15 seconds to process!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{numprint}
\usepackage{bigintcalc}
\begin{document}
\npthousandsep{ }
\def\Mersenne#1{%
\begingroup
\par\noindent\parindent=0pt
$M_{#1}=$\par
\def\exponent##1{\bigintcalcPow{2}{##1}}%
\numprint{\bigintcalcSub{\exponent{#1}}{1}}
\endgroup
}

\Mersenne{1279}
\end{document}


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numprint seems to fail on very large numbers, e.g. the number 2011^2011 requested in How to typeset long numbers in LaTeX. One possibility in such cases is to use siunitx and its group separator option as follows (number computed in computer algebra package):

...2 pages later...

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}
\num[group-separator={\ifmmode\egroup\egroup\)\egroup\ \bgroup\(\bgroup\bgroup\fi}]{145102190947568354439718042571888730727940155456660819393888557495258968846544812426169347814722752430518886638741552069339031541981202311916289923018171350482000989801767527393629878786640595328501079845451099703196127511468172291270423796030907270867576190247259814497207395033844636752818445977014053457708434650009750704150896133322111721826236902705749993499693170780163138070254224811605468435379683476036493157924896057778343238054604130349002784067486731584312790646623528479588186917082533987929601527853380353547373186511224553282137853554884003982108878541423893709897582346401305062606758740477900258424408854677110371391742976902677048699108963719078302440522301016073773152831069673201047842301285816783567336519727213032619270104765415490348212382621011454544607442355815033008047317813132974497794277551854875150450904316082159795426428560192805836889252178164286026505468127600237273558697194173446890581720444298293890034036862730022291875245372476349180865477524502032245467122511490645921559733426260906207149441656740550169534734753412948873085956290970074724104315321219061080889575722820263107147831074974182465125935174650393672339346541682249810936024131555136951827869673649805815654781190651035759848262652558623231816766534169676898022332140883497309473319945996951819202681301612994059957825656298004680004409412881700694505808045527327214866760137416116819447936196737988865621117641563945524013694017616402909572377571155237765644965243981676327434248800021948789599061340228765840001510400261863649339227294454160630338870217480967564075022738740731393118978112670954007189945545957177065995952913098403690689325594582065820231612006273354164740124888150161723303372605873492468906377161510443869916115739555239165987497099757166226797487978421471587266877597968252313755558894230509045977796706695423923250073474506021905691593914856537086289775058640446300739848575524171647666941740074462374422945268014416880158366798349609089650637954987879115250433656801051572515347330125027079495861299220409817342373155703223983096057323257418694397383262104658594656760966419362262811997676933547739288743884334336196974843253898047523255696174381224363407768117598928409663327130044521940282931667865943233169885885405483375227711480904645302948315964575858350245660183095183479150857878822467670592519835920154864636786695964385920490083149925563422535970991708172615191931109583155825795796125908979733750776753229257221673056563378023182883667469678542164859137988014853786247601274197395160668050636152981864431557148478142271683971293072006595281512153472984597001234433265722536518237256733796298001626409986463959941844823886009837675973623732645160988641590262799637269497424254289653899744742062885390255230087795051011794031835303999236071287116497494179528568341466682474319954467724745424945768422947617062305222533164843534309387080947566039136513732515373093720160562697117485970995378162453344127187226736589076487501579799362166114907369925383744776008497056240131810917701286764850695810540488746859040830501403754915054614849461251254513379796117640728622866053727121060068263704118368983303014296344523497945014122487775057606143444908497835690145043715054617703284950593776072022648786135714394642765206754747251980215646210516001195056522112135329926222023607900918157543129124928317783906466595600406904599011360564491621325793547602919111938206254224313522441424093726722559819985547307214022368960680172913990026085246594947331564585604684542869727441170439803269101746761789117070631036052549153040210616979778496115338206296133171148468894766961819080157446917736845814217217661162781364016425044132676882965530617736408894870799410795233192372504973737987347001494329939204605715282958081780653138824352084703626535291140657960625727296650418983515596809182798391472453930548809977835826802185939255946076245000903796625227648848794724972287391686787922178959185973230428899029231834605340058120142165013636459766715842315746336532378459995605725857579239032054419807175077541483875168440319807367987052503834276958589617778095518040583392510443816929672735198338360874993474456012947438062104827717559466153641380257766995922143285534653848629088291728714430717016272606379483554065676565861962615718577973519738727534551153419744032086899318228888406180958378568358363942209641673736931820433378212691709725246229327918118889127995168234300146847358387618577767795899742268428050745322430355889347781543249335090235350935066163359383832300212608875673103290949084087566055383853972340062718317852009446483972545131108338781532139094148551561474065801995449263140221295623468408112959173483747415543512759660994975395837724385597762544134551343925182725776505753365680627772446685651332547326505889481511452652624831744523217866006310786675891154008956854814438966626245964219720726341799981285215513285244091470391811551952540790541253148337076932534783322062432851731087874142611086003634767286279221804526034934534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\end{document}

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how to I make it group by 4 digits? –  MaoYiyi Feb 24 '14 at 14:56
@MaoYiyi siunitx only does groups of 3, because it is designed to follow the SI standards. If your number is from an external application then I would use an external tool to group the digits appropriately. Otherwise I suggest you ask a separate question on this site. –  Andrew Swann Feb 25 '14 at 8:28

That depends on what you are trying to achieve; one possibility would be to explicitly select the font size (using Computer Modern fonts this requires the fix-cm package):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fix-cm}

\begin{document}

{\fontsize{40}{48}\selectfont 2}

{\fontsize{90}{108}\selectfont 2}

\end{document}

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Only two other people like your joke? What a pity! It is beautiful. –  Przemysław Scherwentke Nov 10 '13 at 9:30