--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, Nando Dessena <nando@...> wrote:

>
> Adam,
>
> A> -(2^63) to ((2^63)-1)
>
> A> which is
> A> -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
>
> A> which is probably more than the number of atoms in the known

universe.

>
> last time I checked, there were many more atoms than that in the
> universe. ;-)

Your right, it must have expanded since I last counted ;)

(Lucky for me I included the word probably). If you want to record
each atom in the (known) universe, a combination of 5 BigInts should
cut it.

In any case, there are very few people for whom BigInt is not big
enough, and the implementation limitations of various items within
Firebird would see another limitation hit before running out of BigInt
values.

Adam