Global InformationGNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library information
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| Developer(s) | GNU Project |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1991[1] |
| Stable release | 6.3.0[2] 
/ 30 July 2023 |
| Repository | gmplib |
| Written in | C, (C++, assembly optionally) |
| Type | Mathematical software |
| License | Dual LGPLv3 and GPLv2[3] |
| Website | gmplib |
GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library (GMP) is a free library for arbitrary-precision arithmetic, operating on signed integers, rational numbers, and floating-point numbers.[3] There are no practical limits to the precision except the ones implied by the available memory (operands may be of up to 232−1 bits on 32-bit machines and 237 bits on 64-bit machines).[4][5] GMP has a rich set of functions, and the functions have a regular interface. The basic interface is for C, but wrappers exist for other languages, including Ada, C++, C#, Julia, .NET, OCaml, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, and Rust. Prior to 2008, Kaffe, a Java virtual machine, used GMP to support Java built-in arbitrary precision arithmetic.[6] Shortly after, GMP support was added to GNU Classpath.[7]
The main target applications of GMP are cryptography applications and research, Internet security applications, and computer algebra systems.
GMP aims to be faster than any other bignum library for all operand sizes. Some important factors in doing this are:
- Full words are the basic type for all arithmetic.
- Different algorithms are used for different operand sizes; algorithms which are more efficient with large numbers are not used when dealing with small numbers.
- Assembly (specialized for different processors) are used in the most common inner loops to optimize them as much as possible.
The first GMP release was made in 1991. It is constantly developed and maintained.[8]
GMP is part of the GNU project (although its website being off gnu.org may cause confusion), and is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
GMP is used for integer arithmetic in many computer algebra systems such as Mathematica[9] and Maple.[10] It is also used in the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library (CGAL).
GMP is needed to build the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).[11]
- ^ "GNU MP archive". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- ^ Torbjörn Granlund (30 July 2023). "GMP 6.3.0 released". Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ a b "What is GMP?". Retrieved 2014-04-07.
- ^ Granlund, Torbjorn (2009-07-06). "Problems with mpz_set_str and huge strings". Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "GMP 6.0 News". Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ Hughes, Andrew John (2008-02-28). "Removed GMP math?". Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "GNU Classpath 0.98 "Better Late Than Never"". 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "GNU MP Bignum Library". Retrieved 2018-12-03.
- ^ "The Mathematica Kernel: Issues in the Design and Implementation". October 2006. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "The GNU Multiple Precision (GMP) Library". Maplesoft. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ GCC uses the GNU MPFR library, which in turn relies on GMP. "GCC 4.3 Release Series: Changes, New Features, and Fixes". 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2013-03-17.