num. cmp. in awk on sgi

[david archer]

I am unable to make numerical comparisons in the awk programming
language on our sgi 3.3 system.  That is, tests like

if (variable_a < 27.0)

do not function correctly, but

if (variable_a < "  27.0")

which does a string comparison, works correctly.  From my reading
of the book, it seems as though the former should work; this 
would be preferable because it would eliminate the distinction
between "  27.0", "00027", etc.  

Is this a bug or am I missing the point?

thank you,

David Archer (archer at lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu)