[Python-checkins] closes bpo-28955: Clarified comparisons between NaN and number in reference documentation (GH-5982)

[Benjamin Peterson]

https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/ad8a0004206ba7aec5a8a60fce413da718080db2
commit: ad8a0004206ba7aec5a8a60fce413da718080db2
branch: master
author: Tony Flury <anthony.flury at btinternet.com>
committer: Benjamin Peterson <benjamin at python.org>
date: 2018-09-14T10:48:50-07:00
summary:

closes bpo-28955: Clarified comparisons between NaN and number in reference documentation (GH-5982)

Co-authored-by: Benjamin Peterson <benjamin at python.org>

files:
M Doc/reference/expressions.rst

diff --git a/Doc/reference/expressions.rst b/Doc/reference/expressions.rst
index 33f7575a8fce..f4b16182829d 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/expressions.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/expressions.rst
@@ -1336,12 +1336,11 @@ built-in types.
   involved, they compare mathematically (algorithmically) correct without loss
   of precision.
 
-  The not-a-number values :const:`float('NaN')` and :const:`Decimal('NaN')`
-  are special.  They are identical to themselves (``x is x`` is true) but
-  are not equal to themselves (``x == x`` is false).  Additionally,
-  comparing any number to a not-a-number value
-  will return ``False``.  For example, both ``3 < float('NaN')`` and
-  ``float('NaN') < 3`` will return ``False``.
+  The not-a-number values ``float('NaN')`` and ``decimal.Decimal('NaN')`` are
+  special.  Any ordered comparison of a number to a not-a-number value is false.
+  A counter-intuitive implication is that not-a-number values are not equal to
+  themselves.  For example, if ``x = float('NaN')``, ``3 < x``, ``x < 3``, ``x
+  == x``, ``x != x`` are all false.  This behavior is compliant with IEEE 754.
 
 * Binary sequences (instances of :class:`bytes` or :class:`bytearray`) can be
   compared within and across their types.  They compare lexicographically using