(message "%s" (+ 379.744 57.93)) The above prints 437.67400000000004. Same if I use 57.930, but if I use 57.931 (below) I get the correct answer 437.675. (message "%s" (+ 379.744 57.931)) I was able to work around by using format: (message "%s" (format "%f" (+ 379.744 57.93))) which prints 437.674000. FYI, I can replicate the issue with Emacs 21.3.1. Thanks, -Kevin In GNU Emacs 24.4.1 (x86_64-unknown-cygwin) of 2014-10-21 on desktop-new Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601 Configured using: `configure --srcdir=/home/kbrown/src/cygemacs/emacs-24.4-1.x86_64/src/emacs-24.4 --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --sbindir=/usr/sbin --libexecdir=/usr/libexec --datadir=/usr/share --localstatedir=/var --sysconfdir=/etc --libdir=/usr/lib --datarootdir=/usr/share --docdir=/usr/share/doc/emacs --htmldir=/usr/share/doc/emacs/html -C --with-w32 --without-file-notification --enable-checking 'CFLAGS=-ggdb -O2 -pipe -Wimplicit-function-declaration -Og -g3 -fdebug-prefix-map=/home/kbrown/src/cygemacs/emacs-24.4-1.x86_64/build=/usr/src/debug/emacs-24.4-1 -fdebug-prefix-map=/home/kbrown/src/cygemacs/emacs-24.4-1.x86_64/src/emacs-24.4=/usr/src/debug/emacs-24.4-1' CPPFLAGS= LDFLAGS=' Important settings: value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8 locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix Major mode: Fundamental Minor modes in effect: shell-dirtrack-mode: t display-time-mode: t mouse-wheel-mode: t file-name-shadow-mode: t global-font-lock-mode: t font-lock-mode: t blink-cursor-mode: t line-number-mode: t Recent messages: Load-path shadows: None found. Features: (pp shadow sort gnus-util mail-extr emacsbug message format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils info find-func grep tabify sh-script smie executable shell pcomplete compile comint ansi-color ring dabbrev cc-langs cc-mode cc-fonts cc-guess cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs arc-mode archive-mode dired-aux ispell apropos dired help-fns help-mode easymenu mule-util server edmacro kmacro cl-loaddefs cl-lib time jka-compr time-date tooltip electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel w32-common-fns disp-table w32-win w32-vars tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process dbusbind w32 multi-tty emacs) Memory information: ((conses 16 145217 10616) (symbols 48 23227 0) (miscs 40 133 446) (strings 32 31064 5702) (string-bytes 1 930985) (vectors 16 15771) (vector-slots 8 452262 7494) (floats 8 82 775) (intervals 56 640 31) (buffers 960 24))