RE: Numbers containing 'e+..' not recognised as number

This format is inaccurately known in programming circles as "scientific
notation", though I've heard scientists refer to it as "Fortran notation".

There's no direct support for this format in XSLT 1.0. In 2.0, the number()
function will accept it happily. If you can't move to XSLT 2.0, it looks
like a job for an extension function.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Drew McLellan [mailto:lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 03 July 2005 19:38
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  Numbers containing 'e+..' not recognised as numbers
> 
> I'm using the MSXML2 processor form with an ASP script, trying to  
> transform a source xml document to xhtml.
> 
> The problem is that my source document contains elements with  
> attributes whose values are numeric. Sometimes these values are  
> expressed in a format such as "4.364976000000000e+002". The xsl  
> processor doesn't recognise these as numbers, and so format-number()  
> or any function that requires a number as input simply returns NaN.
> 
> I've tried using the number() function to convert to a number, but  
> this has been unsuccessful.
> 
> I'd be extremely grateful if anyone could
> 
> a) suggest a method to get these numbers recognised as numbers, or
> b) suggest the correct mathematical term for these 'e+..' numbers so  
> I can search more effectively!
> 
> I always [expletive deleted] at mathematics :)
> 
> many thanks,
> 
> drew.