Unable to convert string to long scala

Question

Why can't I convert the next line to a long one? I am trying to do this in scala.

var a = "153978017952566571852" val b = a.toLong 

when i try to convert it i get a NumberFormatException

Answer 1

Since the number exceeds the Long Integer limit, which goes from -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807, the maximum is 19 digits, and your line contains 21 digits.

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You can convert it to Float or Double if you don't need to be precise:

 scala> val b = a.toFloat b: Float = 1.5397802E20 scala> val b = a.toDouble b: Double = 1.5397801795256658E20