Infinity in JavaScript is a special number with an interesting property: it's bigger than any finite number.
Without knowing the properties of Infinity in advance, you might be surprised how infinite numbers perform in conditionals and arithmetical operations.
Let's look at the properties of Infinity number in JavaScript, understand the use cases and be aware of common pitfalls.
1. The definition of Infinity
The ECMAScript standard describes Infinity as follows:
There are two other special values, called positive Infinity and negative Infinity. [...] Note that these two infinite Number values are produced by the program expressions
+Infinity(or simplyInfinity) and-Infinity.
Which means that Infinity, as well as -Infinity (the number small than any finite number) are special values of type number:
typeof Infinity; // => 'number'typeof -Infinity; // => 'number'
Infinity is a property on the global object. For instance in a browser:
window.Infinity; // => Infinity
Note that Number function has 2 properties holding the infinite values as well:
Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY; // => InfinityNumber.NEGATIVE_INFINITY; // => -Infinity
2. The properties of Infinity
Infinityis bigger than any finite number.
Let's see some examples:
Infinity > 100; // => trueInfinity > Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER; // => trueInfinity > Number.MAX_VALUE; // => true
Infinity has interesting effects when used as an operand in arithmetical operations like addition, multiplication and division:
Infinity + 1; // => InfinityInfinity + Infinity; // => InfinityInfinity * 2; // => InfinityInfinity * Infinity; // => InfinityInfinity / 2; // => Infinity
Some operations with Infinity result in finite numbers:
10 / Infinity; // => 0
Dividing a finite number by 0 results in Infinity:
2 / 0; // => Infinity
Making conceptually incorrect operations on infinite numbers results in NaN. For example, you can't divide infinite numbers, and you cannot determine if an infinite number is odd or even:
Infinity / Infinity; // => NaNInfinity % 2; // => NaN
2.1 The negative infinity
-Infinity(the negative infinity) is smaller than any finite number.
Let's compare -Infinity with some finite numbers:
-Infinity < 100; // => true-Infinity < -Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER; // => true-Infinity < -Number.MAX_VALUE; // => true
At the same time, negative infinity is smaller than positive infinity:
-Infinity < Infinity; // => true
You might end up in negative infinity when using operands of different signs:
Infinity * -1; // => -InfinityInfinity / -2; // => -Infinity-2 / 0; // => -Infinity
3. Checking for Infinity
Fortunately, an infinite value equals to an infinite value of the same sign:
Infinity === Infinity; // => true-Infinity === -Infinity; // => true
Because of different signs Infinity doesn't equal -Infinity:
Infinity === -Infinity; // => false
JavaScript has a special function Number.isFinite(value) that checks whether the provided value is finite:
Number.isFinite(Infinity); // => falseNumber.isFinite(-Infinity); // => falseNumber.isFinite(999); // => true
4. When to use Infinity
The infinity value is handy to initialize computations involving comparisons of numbers.
For example, when searching for a minimum value in an array, you could initialize the min variable with Inifinity.
function findMin(array) { let min = Infinity; for (const item of array) { min = Math.min(min, item); } return min;}findMin([5, 2, 1, 4]); // => 1
On first for() iteration the minimum value becomes the first item because any finite value is smaller than Infinity.
5. Pitfalls of Infinity
Most likely you won't work directly with Infinity values so often. However, it worth knowing when the infinite values could appear.
5.1 Parsing numbers
Let's say JavaScript uses an input (POST request, value from an input field, etc) to parse a number. In simple cases it would work fine:
// Parses the float numberparseFloat('10.5'); // => 10.5// Indicates an invalid numberparseFloat('ZZZ'); // => NaN
Care must be taken because 'Infinity' string is parsed by parseFloat() as an actual Infinity number:
parseFloat('Infinity'); // => Infinity
It should be a validation error when the user introduces the 'Infinity' string into a numeric input field.
An alternative could be parseInt() to parse integers. It doesn't recongize 'Infinity' as an integer:
parseInt('10', 10); // => 10parseInt('Infinity', 10); // => NaN
5.2 JSON serialization
JSON.stringify() serializes an Infinity number to null.
const worker = { salary: Infinity};JSON.stringify(worker); // => '{ "salary": null }'
salary property is Infinity. But when stringified to JSON, "salary" becomes null.
5.3 Max number overflow
Number.MAX_VALUE is the biggest float number in JavaScript.
Trying to use a number even bigger than Number.MAX_VALUE, JavaScript transforms such number to Infinity:
2 * Number.MAX_VALUE; // => InfinityMath.pow(10, 1000); // => Infinity
5.4 Math functions
Some functions of Math namespace in JavaScript can return infinite numbers.
Here are a few examples:
const numbers = [1, 2];const empty = [];Math.max(...numbers); // => 2Math.max(...empty); // => -InfinityMath.min(...numbers); // => 1Math.min(...empty); // => Infinity
Math.max() when invoked without arguments returns -Infinity, and Math.min() correspondingly Infinity. That could be a surprise if you try to determine the max or min of an empty array.
Here's an interesting math discussion why that happens.
6. Key takeaway
Infinity in JavaScript represents the concept of an infinite number. Any finite number is smaller than Infinity, and any finite number is bigger -Infinity.
Comparing infinite values in JavaScript is easy: Infinity === Infinity is true. The special function Number.isFinite() determines if the supplied argument is a finite number.
You can initialize variables with Infinite when starting an algorithm that involves a comparison of numbers. A use case is finding the minimum of an array.
Care must be taken with Infinity when parsing numbers from inputs: Number('Infinity'), parseFloat('Infinity') return the actual Infinity number. When serialized with JSON.stringify(), the infinite number becomes null.
Hopefully, after reading my post you have a better idea of infinite numbers!
