guys you are killing me what infinity??? its an integer library integers represent exact numbers and operations infinities and operations with 'em ARE INEXACT! (hit me if i'm wrong) while reading docs/messages on this lib replace the "NaN" with "invalid" word ok, forget the NaN, forget the exception blocking operations ALWAYS throw on error end of story but if and only if you want a "return code"-like interface you consider NaNs and exception blocking it is a feature of the lib and is defined according to its author furthermore it's an OPTIONAL feature furthermore wikipedia says that a NaN is used for values which can not be represented (ta-da!) 'sqrt(int(-1))' can not be represented (as integer) -> NaN 'n/0' can not be represented -> NaN etc. -- Pavel P.S. if you notice a grammar mistake or weird phrasing in my message please point it out