perl -e 'print ((.0425*2) + .0025 ) - ((.0425*2) + .0025 ); print $/;' #### $ perl -we 'print ((.0425*2) + .0025 ) - ((.0425*2) + .0025 ); print $/;' print (...) interpreted as function at -e line 1. Useless use of subtraction (-) in void context at -e line 1. 0.0875 #### $ perl -we 'print (((.0425*2) + .0025 ) - ((.0425*2) + .0025 )); print $/;' 0 $ perl -we 'print +((.0425*2) + .0025 ) - ((.0425*2) + .0025 ); print $/;' 0