• @ayyy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    610 hours ago

    I just feel bad for the IT guy that has to desperately make a computer system that hasn’t been funded since the invention of computers handle this bullshit math and giant numbers.

    • @viking@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      English
      210 hours ago

      It’s a simple function, you don’t really need a whole lot of computing power to keep on track. Worst case you can simply remove the factorial and store the zeros in a separate array and tack them on in the output.

      • @ayyy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        110 hours ago

        It depends on how they are representing the numbers. If they are stored as an “integer” they will overflow and wrap around after about 2 trillion. I’m not saying computers can’t handle larger numbers, I’m saying that in my extensive experience there’s always some part of older systems that generate some long-forgotten but essential report that never thought about handling huge numbers and breaks in unexpected ways.