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(gmp.info)Introduction to GMP

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Introduction to GNU MP
**********************

   GNU MP is a portable library written in C for arbitrary precision
arithmetic on integers, rational numbers, and floating-point numbers.
It aims to provide the fastest possible arithmetic for all applications
that need higher precision than is directly supported by the basic C
types.

   Many applications use just a few hundred bits of precision; but some
applications may need thousands or even millions of bits.  GMP is
designed to give good performance for both, by choosing algorithms
based on the sizes of the operands, and by carefully keeping the
overhead at a minimum.

   The speed of GMP is achieved by using fullwords as the basic
arithmetic type, by using sophisticated algorithms, by including
carefully optimized assembly code for the most common inner loops for
many different CPUs, and by a general emphasis on speed (as opposed to
simplicity or elegance).

   There is carefully optimized assembly code for these CPUs: ARM, DEC
Alpha 21064, 21164, and 21264, AMD 29000, AMD K6, K6-2 and Athlon,
Hitachi SuperH and SH-2, HPPA 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, Intel Pentium, Pentium
Pro/II/III, Pentium 4, generic x86, Intel IA-64, i960, Motorola
MC68000, MC68020, MC88100, and MC88110, Motorola/IBM PowerPC 32 and 64,
National NS32000, IBM POWER, MIPS R3000, R4000, SPARCv7, SuperSPARC,
generic SPARCv8, UltraSPARC, DEC VAX, and Zilog Z8000.  Some
optimizations also for Cray vector systems, Clipper, IBM ROMP (RT), and
Pyramid AP/XP.

   There is a mailing list for GMP users.  To join it, send a mail to
<gmp-request@swox.com> with the word `subscribe' in the message *body*
(not in the subject line).

   For up-to-date information on GMP, please see the GMP web pages at

     `http://swox.com/gmp/'

   The latest version of the library is available at

     `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp'

   Many sites around the world mirror `ftp.gnu.org', please use a mirror
near you, see `http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html' for a full list.

How to use this Manual
======================

   Everyone should read Note: GMP Basics.  If you need to install the
library yourself, then read Note: Installing GMP.  If you have a
system with multiple ABIs, then read Note: ABI and ISA, for the
compiler options that must be used on applications.

   The rest of the manual can be used for later reference, although it
is probably a good idea to glance through it.