[xsl] Numbers containing 'e+..' not recognised as numbers

[Drew McLellan <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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 sucked at mathematics :)

many thanks,

drew.