This lesson documents all the Number built-in object properties and methods.

A number value can be generated using a number literal syntax:

const age = 36
typeof age //number

or using the Number global function:

const age = Number(36)
typeof age //number

If we add the new keyword, we get a Number object in return:

const age = new Number(36)
typeof age //object

which has a very different behavior than a number type. You can get the original number value using the valueOf() method:

const age = new Number(36)
typeof age //object
age.valueOf() //36

Properties

  • EPSILON the smallest interval between two numbers
  • MAX_SAFE_INTEGER the maximum integer value JavaScript can represent
  • MAX_VALUE the maximum positive value JavaScript can represent
  • MIN_SAFE_INTEGER the minimum integer value JavaScript can represent
  • MIN_VALUE the minimum positive value JavaScript can represent
  • NaN a special value representing “not a number”
  • NEGATIVE_INFINITY a special value representing negative infinity
  • POSITIVE_INFINITY a special value representing positive infinity

Those properties evaluated to the values listed below:

Number.EPSILON
Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER
Number.MAX_VALUE
Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER
Number.MIN_VALUE
Number.NaN
Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY
Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY

2.220446049250313e-16
9007199254740991
1.7976931348623157e+308
-9007199254740991
5e-324
NaN
-Infinity
Infinity

Object Methods

We can call those methods passing a value:

  • Number.isNaN(value): returns true if value is not a number
  • Number.isFinite(value): returns true if value is a finite number
  • Number.isInteger(value): returns true if value is an integer
  • Number.isSafeInteger(value): returns true if value is a safe integer
  • Number.parseFloat(value): converts value to a floating point number and returns it
  • Number.parseInt(value): converts value to an integer and returns it

I mentioned “safe integer”. Also up above, with the MAX_SAFE_INTEGER and MIN_SAFE_INTEGER properties. What is a safe integer? It’s an integer that can be exactly represented as an IEEE-754 double precision number (all integers from (2^53 - 1) to -(2^53 - 1)). Out of this range, integers cannot be represented by JavaScript correctly. Out of the scope of the course, but here is a great explanation of that.

Examples of the above methods in use:

Number.isNaN

NaN is a special case. A number is NaN only if it’s NaN or if it’s a division of 0 by 0 expression, which returns NaN. In all the other cases, we can pass it what we want but it will return false:

Number.isNaN(NaN) //true
Number.isNaN(0 / 0) //true

Number.isNaN(1) //false
Number.isNaN('Flavio') //false
Number.isNaN(true) //false
Number.isNaN({}) //false
Number.isNaN([1, 2, 3]) //false

Number.isFinite

Returns true if the passed value is a finite number. Anything else, booleans, strings, objects, arrays, returns false:

Number.isFinite(1) //true
Number.isFinite(-237) //true
Number.isFinite(0) //true
Number.isFinite(0.2) //true

Number.isFinite('Flavio') //false
Number.isFinite(true) //false
Number.isFinite({}) //false
Number.isFinite([1, 2, 3]) //false

Number.isInteger

Returns true if the passed value is an integer. Anything else, booleans, strings, objects, arrays, returns false:

Number.isInteger(1) //true
Number.isInteger(-237) //true
Number.isInteger(0) //true

Number.isInteger(0.2) //false
Number.isInteger('Flavio') //false
Number.isInteger(true) //false
Number.isInteger({}) //false
Number.isInteger([1, 2, 3]) //false

Number.isSafeInteger

A number might satisfy Number.isInteger() but not Number.isSafeInteger() if it goes out of the boundaries of safe integers, which I explained above.

So, anything over 2^53 and below -2^53 is not safe:

Number.isSafeInteger(Math.pow(2, 53)) // false
Number.isSafeInteger(Math.pow(2, 53) - 1) // true
Number.isSafeInteger(Math.pow(2, 53) + 1) // false
Number.isSafeInteger(-Math.pow(2, 53)) // false
Number.isSafeInteger(-Math.pow(2, 53) - 1) // false
Number.isSafeInteger(-Math.pow(2, 53) + 1) // true

Number.parseFloat

Parses the argument as a float number and returns it. The argument is a string:

Number.parseFloat('10') //10
Number.parseFloat('10.00') //10
Number.parseFloat('237,21') //237
Number.parseFloat('237.21') //237.21
Number.parseFloat('12 34 56') //12
Number.parseFloat(' 36 ') //36
Number.parseFloat('36 is my age') //36

Number.parseFloat('-10') //-10
Number.parseFloat('-10.2') //-10.2

As you can see Number.parseFloat() is pretty flexible. It can also convert strings with words, extracting the first number, but the string must start with a number:

Number.parseFloat('I am Flavio and I am 36') //NaN

It only handles radix 10 numbers.

Number.parseInt

Parses the argument as an integer number and returns it:

Number.parseInt('10') //10
Number.parseInt('10.00') //10
Number.parseInt('237,21') //237
Number.parseInt('237.21') //237
Number.parseInt('12 34 56') //12
Number.parseInt(' 36 ') //36
Number.parseInt('36 is my age') //36

As you can see Number.parseInt() is pretty flexible. It can also convert strings with words, extracting the first number, but the string must start with a number:

Number.parseInt('I am Flavio and I am 36') //NaN

You can add a second parameter to specify the radix. Radix 10 is default but you can use octal or hexadecimal number conversions too:

Number.parseInt('10', 10) //10
Number.parseInt('010') //10
Number.parseInt('010', 8) //8
Number.parseInt('10', 8) //8
Number.parseInt('10', 16) //16

Instance methods

When you use the new keyword to instantiate a value with the Number() function, we get a Number object in return:

const age = new Number(36)
typeof age //object

This object offers a few unique methods you can use. Mostly to convert the number to specific formats.

  • .toExponential(): return a string representing the number in exponential notation
  • .toFixed(): return a string representing the number in fixed-point notation
  • .toLocaleString(): return a string with the local specific conventions of the number
  • .toPrecision(): return a string representing the number to a specified precision
  • .toString(): return a string representing the specified object in the specified radix (base). Overrides the Object.prototype.toString() method
  • .valueOf(): return the number primitive value of the object

.toExponential()

You can use this method to get a string representing the number in exponential notation:

new Number(10).toExponential() //1e+1 (= 1 * 10^1)
new Number(21.2).toExponential() //2.12e+1 (= 2.12 * 10^1)

You can pass an argument to specify the fractional part digits:

new Number(21.2).toExponential(1) //2.1e+1
new Number(21.2).toExponential(5) //2.12000e+1

Notice how we lost precision in the first example.

.toFixed()

You can use this method to get a string representing the number in fixed point notation:

new Number(21.2).toFixed() //21

You can add an optional number setting the digits as a parameter:

new Number(21.2).toFixed(0) //21
new Number(21.2).toFixed(1) //21.2
new Number(21.2).toFixed(2) //21.20

.toLocaleString()

Formats a number according to a locale.

By default the locale is US english:

new Number(21.2).toLocaleString() //21.2

We can pass the locale as the first parameter:

new Number(21.2).toLocaleString('it') //21,2

This is eastern arabic

new Number(21.2).toLocaleString('ar-EG') //٢١٫٢

There are a number of options you can add, and I suggest to look at the MDN page to know more.

.toPrecision()

This method returns a string representing the number to a specified precision:

new Number(21.2).toPrecision(0) //error! argument must be > 0
new Number(21.2).toPrecision(1) //2e+1 (= 2 * 10^1 = 2)
new Number(21.2).toPrecision(2) //21
new Number(21.2).toPrecision(3) //21.2
new Number(21.2).toPrecision(4) //21.20
new Number(21.2).toPrecision(5) //21.200

.toString()

This method returns a string representation of the Number object. It accepts an optional argument to set the radix:

new Number(10).toString() //10
new Number(10).toString(2) //1010
new Number(10).toString(8) //12
new Number(10).toString(16) //a

.valueOf()

This method returns the number value of a Number object:

const age = new Number(36)
typeof age //object
age.valueOf() //36

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