Why can Haskell handle very large numbers easily?

Question

Hugs> 94535^445
13763208823213770506960538876615156211048901640052821530697264247739998018468419032448277029434879827074549660094560167350418780006041435009085328         


        

Answer 1

It is a matter of how to encode numbers. The traditional way to do this is to encode numbers with a given number of bits, where you cannot have infinite accuracy. Haskell apparently do this with a variable number of bits for a number which is also fine, but usually mean that all math has do be done in software, as hardware acceleration is generally only available for finite accuracy.