A quick test with Devel::Peek revealed the following info:
Testscript:
SV = PV(0x176ec4c) at 0x1765288
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,POK,pPOK)
PV = 0x17601c0 "0.123"\0
CUR = 5
LEN = 8
Original program:
SV = PVIV(0x1adb6f4) at 0x1b874d8
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,POK,pPOK)
IV = 0
PV = 0x1ade30c "83.4"\0
CUR = 4
LEN = 8
Perhaps because it's late at night but, I can't figure out anything else than that the number is interpreted as a string.
But that is odd too, I thought a string would evaluate to zero or the number not int($number) ???
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It's unfair to be an expert.