I'm very new to JavaScript (I come from a Java background) and I am trying to do some financial calculations with small amounts of money.

My original go at this was:

<script type="text/javascript">
    var normBase = ("[price]").replace("$", "");
    var salesBase = ("[saleprice]").replace("$", "");
    var base;
    if (salesBase != 0) {
        base = salesBase;
    } else {
        base = normBase;
    }
    var per5  = (base - (base * 0.05));
    var per7  = (base - (base * 0.07));
    var per10 = (base - (base * 0.10));
    var per15 = (base - (base * 0.15));
    document.write
        (
        '5% Off: $'  + (Math.ceil(per5  * 100) / 100).toFixed(2) + '<br/>' +
        '7% Off: $'  + (Math.ceil(per7  * 100) / 100).toFixed(2) + '<br/>' +
        '10% Off: $' + (Math.ceil(per10 * 100) / 100).toFixed(2) + '<br/>' +
        '15% Off: $' + (Math.ceil(per15 * 100) / 100).toFixed(2) + '<br/>'
    );
</script>

This worked well except it always rounded up (Math.ceil). Math.floor has the same issue, and Math.round is also no good for floats.

In Java, I would have avoided the use of floats completely from the get-go, however in JavaScript there does not seem to be a default inclusion of something comparable.

The problem is, all the libraries mentioned are either broken or for a different purpose. The jsfromhell.com/classes/bignumber library is very close to what I need, however I'm having bizarre issues with its rounding and precision... No matter what I set the Round Type to, it seems to decide on its own. So for example, 3.7107 with precision of 2 and round type of ROUND_HALF_UP somehow winds up as 3.72 when it should be 3.71.

I also tried @JasonSmith BigDecimal library (a machined port from Java's BigDecimal), but it seems to be for node.js which I don't have the option of running.

How can I accomplish this using vanilla JavaScript (and be reliable) or is there a modern (ones mentioned above are all years old now) library that I can use that is maintained and is not broken?


Since we have native support for BigInt, it doesn't require much code any more to implement BigDecimal.

Here is a BigDecimal class based on BigInt with the following characteristics:

  • The number of decimals is configured as a constant, applicable to all instances.
  • Whether excessive digits are truncated or rounded is configured as a boolean constant.
  • An instance stores the decimal number as a BigInt, multiplied by a power of 10 so to include the decimals.
  • All calculations happen with those BigInt values.
  • The arguments passed to add, subtract, multiply and divide can be numeric, string, or instances of BigDecimal
  • These methods return new instances, so a BigDecimal is treated as immutable.
  • The toString method reintroduces the decimal point.
  • A BigDecimal can coerce to a number (via implicit call to toString), but that will obviously lead to loss of precision.

class BigDecimal {
    // Configuration: constants
    static DECIMALS = 18; // number of decimals on all instances
    static ROUNDED = true; // numbers are truncated (false) or rounded (true)
    static SHIFT = BigInt("1" + "0".repeat(BigDecimal.DECIMALS)); // derived constant
    constructor(value) {
        if (value instanceof BigDecimal) return value;
        let [ints, decis] = String(value).split(".").concat("");
        this._n = BigInt(ints + decis.padEnd(BigDecimal.DECIMALS, "0")
                                     .slice(0, BigDecimal.DECIMALS)) 
                  + BigInt(BigDecimal.ROUNDED && decis[BigDecimal.DECIMALS] >= "5");
    }
    static fromBigInt(bigint) {
        return Object.assign(Object.create(BigDecimal.prototype), { _n: bigint });
    }
    add(num) {
        return BigDecimal.fromBigInt(this._n + new BigDecimal(num)._n);
    }
    subtract(num) {
        return BigDecimal.fromBigInt(this._n - new BigDecimal(num)._n);
    }
    static _divRound(dividend, divisor) {
        return BigDecimal.fromBigInt(dividend / divisor 
            + (BigDecimal.ROUNDED ? dividend  * 2n / divisor % 2n : 0n));
    }
    multiply(num) {
        return BigDecimal._divRound(this._n * new BigDecimal(num)._n, BigDecimal.SHIFT);
    }
    divide(num) {
        return BigDecimal._divRound(this._n * BigDecimal.SHIFT, new BigDecimal(num)._n);
    }
    toString() {
        const s = this._n.toString().padStart(BigDecimal.DECIMALS+1, "0");
        return s.slice(0, -BigDecimal.DECIMALS) + "." + s.slice(-BigDecimal.DECIMALS)
                .replace(/\.?0+$/, "");
    }
}

// Demo
var a = new BigDecimal("123456789123456789876");
var b = a.divide("10000000000000000000");
var c = b.add("9.000000000000000004");
console.log(b.toString());
console.log(c.toString());
console.log(+c); // loss of precision when converting to number

I like using accounting.js for number, money and currency formatting.

Homepage - https://openexchangerates.github.io/accounting.js/

Github - https://github.com/openexchangerates/accounting.js


There are several implementations of BigDecimal in js:

  • js-big-decimal
  • big.js
  • bignumber.js
  • decimal.js

The last 3 come from the same author: see the differences.


Big.js is great, but too bulky for me.

I'm currently using the following which uses BigInt for arbitrary-precision. Only supports add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Calling set_precision(8); sets precision to 8 decimals.

Rounding mode is ROUND_DOWN.


class AssertionError extends Error {

  /**
   * @param {String|void} message
   */
  constructor (message) {
    super(message);
    this.name = 'AssertionError';
    if (Error.captureStackTrace instanceof Function) {
      Error.captureStackTrace(this, AssertionError);
    }
  }

  toJSON () {
    return { name: this.name, message: this.message, stack: this.stack };
  }

  /**
   * @param {Boolean} value
   * @param {String|void} message
   */
  static assert (value, message) {
    if (typeof value !== 'boolean') {
      throw new Error('assert(value, message?), "value" must be a boolean.');
    }
    if (message !== undefined && typeof message !== 'string') {
      throw new Error('assert(value, message?), "message" must be a string.');
    }
    if (value === false) {
      throw new AssertionError(message);
    }
  }
}

module.exports = AssertionError;
const AssertionError = require('./AssertionError');

let precision = 2;
let precision_multiplier = 10n ** BigInt(precision);
let max_safe_integer = BigInt(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER) * precision_multiplier;

/**
 * @param {Number} value
 */
const set_precision = (value) => {
  AssertionError.assert(typeof value === 'number');
  AssertionError.assert(Number.isFinite(value) === true);
  AssertionError.assert(Number.isInteger(value) === true);
  AssertionError.assert(value >= 0 === true);
  precision = value;
  precision_multiplier = 10n ** BigInt(precision);
  max_safe_integer = BigInt(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER) * precision_multiplier;
};

/**
 * @param {Number} value
 */
const to_bigint = (value) => {
  AssertionError.assert(typeof value === 'number');
  AssertionError.assert(Number.isFinite(value) === true);
  return BigInt(value.toFixed(precision).replace('.', ''));
};

/**
 * @param {BigInt} value
 * @param {Number} decimal_places
 */
const to_number = (value) => {
  AssertionError.assert(typeof value === 'bigint');
  AssertionError.assert(value <= max_safe_integer);
  const value_string = value.toString().padStart(2 + precision, '0');
  const whole = value_string.substring(0, value_string.length - precision);
  const decimal = value_string.substring(value_string.length - precision, value_string.length);
  const result = Number(`${whole}.${decimal}`);
  return result;
};

/**
 * @param  {Number[]} values
 */
const add = (...values) => to_number(values.reduce((previous, current) => previous === null ? to_bigint(current) : previous + to_bigint(current), null));
const subtract = (...values) => to_number(values.reduce((previous, current) => previous === null ? to_bigint(current) : previous - to_bigint(current), null));
const multiply = (...values) => to_number(values.reduce((previous, current) => previous === null ? to_bigint(current) : (previous * to_bigint(current)) / precision_multiplier, null));
const divide = (...values) => to_number(values.reduce((previous, current) => previous === null ? to_bigint(current) : (previous * precision_multiplier) / to_bigint(current), null));

const arbitrary = { set_precision, add, subtract, multiply, divide };

module.exports = arbitrary;

const arbitrary = require('./arbitrary');

arbitrary.set_precision(2);
const add = arbitrary.add;
const subtract = arbitrary.subtract;
const multiply = arbitrary.multiply;
const divide = arbitrary.divide;

console.log(add(75, 25, 25)); // 125
console.log(subtract(75, 25, 25)); // 25
console.log(multiply(5, 5)); // 25
console.log(add(5, multiply(5, 5))); // 30
console.log(divide(125, 5, 5)); // 5
console.log(divide(1000, 10, 10)); // 10
console.log(divide(1000, 8.86)); // 112.86681715
console.log(add(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, 0)); // 9007199254740991
console.log(subtract(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, 1)); // 9007199254740990
console.log(multiply(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, 0.5)); // 4503599627370495.5
console.log(divide(Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, 2)); // 4503599627370495.5
console.log(multiply(Math.PI, Math.PI)); // 9.86960437
console.log(divide(Math.PI, Math.PI)); // 1
console.log(divide(1, 12)); // 0.08333333
console.log(add(0.1, 0.2)); // 0.3
console.log(multiply(1.500, 1.3)); // 1.95
console.log(multiply(0, 1)); // 0
console.log(multiply(0, -1)); // 0
console.log(multiply(-1, 1)); // -1
console.log(divide(1.500, 1.3)); // 1.15384615
console.log(divide(0, 1)); // 0
console.log(divide(0, -1)); // 0
console.log(divide(-1, 1)); // -1
console.log(multiply(5, 5, 5, 5)); // 625
console.log(multiply(5, 5, 5, 123, 123, 5)); // 9455625