bignum
Batched arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic on the GPU, loadable through
kernels: addition, subtraction, multiplication, signed comparison, and
modular reduction over a batch of wide integers, exact at every width. The
reference baseline is Python's native integer arithmetic, compared digit for
digit, with GMP as the throughput yardstick.
Exact algorithms over the integers, Hermite and Smith normal forms, lattice basis reduction, integer relation detection, carry coefficients that grow past 64 bits and are not decomposable by CRT the way determinants are. They need wide arithmetic on the device itself, and GPUs have no such type. This kernel supplies it as a batch primitive: thousands of 8192-bit values computed at once, so the wide-integer inner loops of exact linear algebra run where the rest of the computation lives.
4,096 lanes of 2048-bit a*b mod M in flight: 2.5 million exact modular
multiplies per second, 2.6x one GMP core, every lane digit-for-digit equal to
GMP.
Usage
import torch
from kernels import get_kernel
bn = get_kernel("phanerozoic/bignum", version=1, trust_remote_code=True)
a = bn.to_device([3**400, -(5**300), 2**1000])
b = bn.to_device([7**200, 11**150, 1], limbs=a.size(0))
bn.from_device(bn.add(a, b))
bn.from_device(bn.mul(a, b))
bn.compare(a, b) # -1, 0 or 1 per lane
bn.from_device(bn.mod(a, (1 << 127) - 1))
version selects the release branch; trust_remote_code is required by
kernels for publishers without the trusted-publisher mark.
API
| Symbol | Purpose |
|---|---|
to_device(values, limbs=None) |
pack Python ints into an [L, N] limb tensor |
from_device(tensor) |
unpack a limb tensor into Python ints |
limbs_for(bits) |
limb count holding a signed value of that magnitude |
add(a, b), sub(a, b) |
elementwise sum and difference, wrapping at the operand width |
mul(a, b) |
elementwise product, widened to La + Lb limbs |
compare(a, b) |
elementwise signed comparison, -1, 0 or 1 per lane |
mod(a, M) |
every lane reduced modulo one modulus, into [0, M) |
mulmod(a, b, M) |
elementwise a * b mod M |
barrett_mu(M, operand_limbs) |
reusable Barrett constant for a fixed modulus and operand width |
Method
A batch of N integers, each L limbs of 64 bits, is an [L, N] int64 tensor:
limb i of value t sits at i * N + t, so consecutive threads touch
consecutive addresses on every limb access and the carry chains that are
sequential within one value amortize across the batch. Values are
little-endian two's complement at a fixed width, up to 128 limbs (8192 bits).
Addition, subtraction, and comparison run directly on the two's-complement
representation, one thread per value. Multiplication converts to sign and
magnitude, accumulates schoolbook partial products through __umul64hi, and
reapplies the sign. Modular reduction is Barrett:
q = floor(a * mu / 2^(64 * La)) with mu precomputed on the host, then
a - q * M corrected by at most a few subtractions. Sizing mu to the
operand width rather than the modulus width keeps the quotient estimate valid
for any dividend below 2^(64 * La), so wide values reduce against a small
modulus without a narrowing step. Working buffers live in a host-allocated
global scratch region indexed by thread.
Measured
Batched a*b mod M at 2048 bits, 4,096 lanes, against GMP via gmpy2 on one
CPU core of the same host, results compared digit for digit:
| ops/s | |
|---|---|
| bignum, one GPU | 2,543,000 |
| GMP, one CPU core | 971,000 |
The batch is the regime: per-op latency favors GMP, aggregate throughput and residency next to tensors favor the device.
Verification
Every operation is compared against Python's native integer arithmetic, digit for digit: round-trip packing at the signed word boundaries, addition and subtraction at 8 to 700 bits, multiplication across all four sign combinations, comparison at the boundaries, and reduction against moduli of 61 to 256 bits with dividends far exceeding the modulus squared.
Requirements and limits
- NVIDIA GPU with compute capability 8.0+.
- Fixed width per batch, up to 128 limbs (8192 bits);
mod/mulmodtake one shared modulus per call. - Single-value latency is not the target; batch width is what fills the device.
References
Barrett, "Implementing the Rivest Shamir and Adleman public key encryption algorithm on a standard digital signal processor" (1986); GMP as the CPU reference implementation.
License
Apache-2.0.
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