How to use BigInteger?

sum = sum.add(BigInteger.valueOf(i))

The BigInteger class is immutable, hence you can't change its state. So calling "add" creates a new BigInteger, rather than modifying the current.

BigInteger is immutable. The javadocs states that add() "[r]eturns a BigInteger whose value is (this + val)." Therefore, you can't change sum, you need to reassign the result of the add method to sum variable.

sum = sum.add(BigInteger.valueOf(i));