INT( 12 ) in mySQL database and int in script = 2,147,483,647 max. BIGINT( 25 ) in mySQL database and float in script = 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 max. How do you allow numbers even larger than 9.2 Quintillion to be added to mySQL, as a number value? For example, something Like varchar(255) but where the script would be able to still do calculations with it, like add and subtract using the number.
gah!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers Aka...how can you get a mySQL database to allow you to have a sextillion number in it and let the php script add and subtract from it!!!
The size of a float is platform-dependent, although a maximum of ~1.8e308 with a precision of roughly 14 decimal digits is a common value (that's 64 bit IEEE format). source: http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.float.php
Well technically PHP is totally independent of SQL in terms of numerical representations. I'm not entirely sure the float limitations of PHP, but you could always do what you said with varchar (or text) and the read the value and intval() the number and it's in good-ol' numerical representation in PHP. I have to ask though... wtf would you ever need a number that large for? I mean every additional digit you go ads a whole other level of exponential rise, I really can't see a practical use for needing that kind of a number
When I did a project on huge prime numbers in c++ we ran out of numbers very quickly. We had to use arrays to make the numbers appear smaller and then do operations on the arrays. You might need to do something similar here.