How to typeset large numbers

Question

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

Answer 1

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}

Answer 2

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}

Answer 3

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}