Performing arthmetic on generics

Question

Hi all, is it possible to do arithmetic operations in generic types?
public <T,U,V> V add(T x, U y)  {
       return x+y;
}Edited by: jsunsnx on May 6, 2009 1:49 PM
Edited by: jsunsnx on May 6, 2009 1:50 PM

Answer 1

jsunsnx wrote:
and what about Object types
Object x, y;
x+yI Object!
If you want to do this kind of stuff though, define yourself an interface and only take type parameters that adhere to that interface. Having the first and second argument as different types doesn't make a shred of sense, though.
public interface ArithmeticallyManipulable<T> {
   T add(T t);
   T multiply(T t);
class MyBigInteger extends BigInteger implements ArithmeticallyManipulable {
   public MyBigInteger(long val) {
      super(String.valueOf(val));
public <T> T add(T t1, T t2) {
   return t1.add(t2);
public static void main(String... args) {
   MyBigInteger b1 = new MyBigInteger(10);
   MyBigInteger b2 = new MyBigInteger(12);
   MyBigInteger b3 = add(b1, b2);
//...