python arithmetic_error official true

OverflowError

ID: python/overflowerror

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
80%Fix Rate
95%Confidence
0Evidence

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
3.x active — — —

Root Cause

A numeric operation produced a result too large to be represented. Common with math.exp(), pow(), or large integer conversions.

generic

Official Documentation

https://docs.python.org/3/library/exceptions.html

Workarounds

  1. 90% success Use Python's arbitrary-precision integers, or decimal.Decimal for large numbers 
    Python ints have unlimited precision; avoid float for very large values
  2. 90% success Use math.log() or logarithmic scale for calculations that cause overflow 
    Work in log-space to avoid extreme values

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Converting to float (which has INF) 80% fail

    Float infinity cannot be used for precise integer calculations