diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 553e1e7a0..d41f7821f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2011-02-13  Robert Larice
+ * src/frontend/numparam/spicenum.c ,
+ * src/frontend/numparam/xpressn.c :
+    reinstate a missing if(numerical), which got lost
+      and fix a few comments
+
 2011-02-13  Robert Larice
   part 2, the actual change
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/numparam/spicenum.c b/src/frontend/numparam/spicenum.c
index e84b25343..d4e30a027 100644
--- a/src/frontend/numparam/spicenum.c
+++ b/src/frontend/numparam/spicenum.c
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ extern int dynmaxline; /* inpcom.c:1529 */
   overwrite any line pointers, or we start a new set after each sig=0 ?
   Anyway, we neutralize all & and .param lines  (category[] array!)
   and we substitute all {} &() and &id placeholders by dummy numbers.
-  The placeholders are long long integers 100000000000000+n (17 digits, n small).
+  The placeholders are long long integers 10000000000000000+n (17 digits, n small).
 
 */
 /**********  string handling ***********/
diff --git a/src/frontend/numparam/xpressn.c b/src/frontend/numparam/xpressn.c
index 5e1d492f4..2fa35656c 100644
--- a/src/frontend/numparam/xpressn.c
+++ b/src/frontend/numparam/xpressn.c
@@ -1555,9 +1555,14 @@ evaluate (tdico * dico, SPICE_DSTRINGPTR qstr_p, char *t, unsigned char mode)
         u = formula (dico, t, &err);
         numeric = 1;
     }
-    /*  set string to total length 17, mantissa after . is of length 9 
-    use sprintf with format string %17.10g */
-    strf (u, 17, 10, qstr_p);
+
+    if (numeric)
+    {
+        /*  set string to total length 17, mantissa after . is of length 9 
+            use sprintf with format string %17.10g */
+        strf (u, 17, 10, qstr_p);
+    }
+
     spice_dstring_free(&vstr) ;
     return err;
 }
@@ -1857,7 +1862,7 @@ insertnumber (tdico * dico, int i, char *s, SPICE_DSTRINGPTR ustr_p)
 
         while (found && (k < 17))
         {
-            /* parse a 15-digit number */
+            /* parse a 17-digit number */
             found = num (s[i + k]);
 
             if (found)