java - Using a generic class to perform basic arithmetic operations

Question

I want to perform basic arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using only one generic method per operation for wrapper types like Integer, Float, Double ... (excluding BigDecimal and BigInteger).

I have tried to do something like the following (for addition) using a generic class.

public final class GenericClass<E extends Number> {

    public E add(E x, E y) {
        return x + y; // Compile-time error
    }
}

It issues a compile-time error,

operator + cannot be applied to E,E

Is there a way to use such a generic version to achieve such operations?

Answer 1

No, there isn't a way to do this, or else it would be built into Java. The type system isn't strong enough to express this sort of thing.