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GeezerVison is showing github.com — fix: binomial_distribution overflow at 171 trials by dbdefault · Pull Request #15725 · TheAlgorithms/Python

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@dbdefault

@dbdefault dbdefault commented Nov 12, 2026

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Fixes #15656

Describe your change

  • maths/binomial_distribution.py: replace float(factorial(trials)) with math.comb(trials, successes) to avoid OverflowError for trials >= 171
  • math.comb computes the binomial coefficient directly as an integer, avoiding intermediate factorial overflow
  • Add doctest for binomial_distribution(85, 171, 0.5) returning 0.060749764626165485

Checklist

  • I have read the contributing guidelines
  • I have run ruff check and ruff format on my changes
  • I have added doctests for any new or changed functions
  • My change is one algorithm file

Fixes #15656

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@dbdefault
fix: binomial_distribution overflow at 171 trials
7f789b0 
Replace float(factorial(trials)) with math.comb(trials, successes) to
avoid OverflowError for trial counts >= 171. math.comb computes the
binomial coefficient directly as an integer, avoiding the intermediate
factorial overflow while producing the same exact result.

Add doctest for binomial_distribution(85, 171, 0.5) returning
0.060749764626165485.

Fixes TheAlgorithms#15656
@algorithms-keeper algorithms-keeper Bot added the awaiting reviews This PR is ready to be reviewed label Nov 12, 2026
@algorithms-keeper

algorithms-keeper Bot commented Nov 12, 2026

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Multiple Pull Request Detected

@dbdefault, we are extremely excited that you want to submit multiple algorithms in this repository but we have a limit on how many pull request a user can keep open at a time. This is to make sure all maintainers and users focus on a limited number of pull requests at a time to maintain the quality of the code.

This pull request is being closed as the user already has an open pull request. Please focus on your previous pull request before opening another one. Thank you for your cooperation.

User opened pull requests (including this one): #15725, #15721, #15720, #15719
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@algorithms-keeper algorithms-keeper Bot closed this Nov 12, 2026
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binomial_distribution overflows at 171 trials even when the result is representable

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@dbdefault
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