UNB/ CS/ David Bremner/ teaching/ cs2613/ books/ mdn/ Reference/ Errors/ ""TypeError:

The JavaScript exception "can't convert BigInt to number" occurs when an arithmetic operation involves a mix of BigInt and Number values.

Message

TypeError: Cannot mix BigInt and other types, use explicit conversions (V8-based)
TypeError: BigInts have no unsigned right shift, use >> instead (V8-based)
TypeError: can't convert BigInt to number (Firefox)
TypeError: Invalid mix of BigInt and other type in addition/multiplication/…. (Safari)
TypeError: BigInt does not support >>> operator (Safari)

Error type

TypeError.

What went wrong?

The two sides of an arithmetic operator must both be BigInts or both not. If an operation involves a mix of BigInts and numbers, it's ambiguous whether the result should be a BigInt or number, since there may be loss of precision in both cases.

The error can also happen if the unsigned right shift operator (>>>) is used between two BigInts. In Firefox, the message is the same: "can't convert BigInt to number".

Examples

Mixing numbers and BigInts in operations

const sum = 1n + 1;
// TypeError: can't convert BigInt to number

Instead, explicitly coerce one side to a BigInt or number.

const sum = 1n + BigInt(1);
const sum2 = Number(1n) + 1;

Using unsigned right shift on BigInts

const a = 4n >>> 2n;
// TypeError: can't convert BigInt to number

Use normal right shift instead.

const a = 4n >> 2n;

See also