First implemented in MacLISP, bignum facilities are available in most modern Lispss and in many other languages (Java, Perl, Ruby, Python, Squeak). The VAX/VMS operating system offered bignum facilities as a collection of string functionss. The GNU Multi-Precision Library is a free C library that offers bignum features. All computer algebra systems contain bignum facilities.
Bignum systems often employ fast multiplication algorithms.
See also: large numbers.