Left and right shifts
For non-negative integers with unlimited precision, shifting left by n positions multiplies the value by 2ⁿ. Shifting right by n positions performs integer division by 2ⁿ.
Fixed-width machine integers behave differently because shifted bits can fall outside the available width. Languages also differ in how they right-shift negative values, so width and signedness must be explicit in low-level work.
Why this calculator uses arbitrary precision
JavaScript’s ordinary bitwise operators first coerce values to 32-bit integers. This calculator uses BigInt instead, so values such as 2³¹ shifted left remain correct rather than wrapping to zero.