| maxnat | maximum natural number function |
| Syntax | maxnat : nat
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| Description | The maxnat function is used to determine the largest natural number that can be used in a program.
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| Example | This program outputs the maximum natural number.
put "The largest natural number that can be used is ", maxnat |
| Details | In current implementations, natural numbers are stored in 4 bytes, i.e., 32 bits. This determines the maximum natural number, which is 2**32 - 2, equaling 4294967294. In four bytes it is possible to represent one more value, namely, 2**32 - 1 = 4294967295. This extra value is used in Turing to represent the uninitialized natural number. Although it can be computed, any attempt to assign it to a nat variable is detected as an overflow. You can use this extra value by using the nat4 type instead of nat, but this type has no initialization checking.
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| See also | maxint and minnat. See also predefined unit Limits.
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