C# Equivalent of Java's BigDecimal Class

Java's BigDecimal class provides high-precision handling of numerical values. It offers notable features such as scale, precision, and immutable operations. Developers may wonder if there is an equivalent in C#.

Solution

The C# language currently lacks an in-built data type that directly matches the capabilities of BigDecimal. However, as outlined in a Stack Overflow discussion, it is possible to implement arbitrary precision decimals using .NET's BigInteger and Int32 types.

The implementation involves creating a custom floating-point type with a large mantissa represented by BigInteger and a base 10 exponent. This approach offers the flexibility to handle big numbers with varying precision and avoid floating-point rounding errors.

Implementation

The implementation provided in the Stack Overflow answer outlines the following:

• Defining a struct to represent the data format.
• Implementing basic arithmetic operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).
• Implementing comparison operators (equality, greater than, less than).
• Providing conversion methods to and from typical numerical types.
• Adding exponential methods.

Availability

The C# implementation of arbitrary precision decimals can be found on GitHub Gist at this link: https://gist.github.com/JcBernack/0b4eef59ca97ee931a2f45542b9ff06d

Note: This implementation is not comprehensive but provides a functional base for handling big numbers with high precision in C#.