}

  static double bigToDouble(BigInteger x) {
    // This is an extremely fast implementation of BigInteger.doubleValue(). JDK patch pending.
    BigInteger absX = x.abs();
    int exponent = absX.bitLength() - 1;
    // exponent == floor(log2(abs(x)))
    if (exponent < Long.SIZE - 1) {
      return x.longValue();
    } else if (exponent > MAX_EXPONENT) {
      return x.signum() * POSITIVE_INFINITY;
    }

    /*