(j3.2006) What does "outside the range of values" mean?

[Malcolm Cohen]

About a million years ago, or so it seems [I really need to get my email backlog 
under control!], Van asked:
>What does "outside the range of values" in 13.7.1p2 mean?

Well, I think that that whole paragraph is insufficiently carefully written. 
Clearly (!) it generally means "not a valid value", but since NaNs and INFs are 
also perfectly good if exceptional values, in the parts of the sentence where it 
is talking about those it means to exclude them.

This paragraph is conflating two different if related concepts.  It needs to be 
broken in two, and significantly rewritten.  I don't think that it would be all 
that difficult technically to rewrite to say what is "obviously" meant, but it 
would be some work.

I don't think the confusion rises to the level of interpretation request (at 
least I hope no-one is too confused about some particular issue), but it 
certainly would be a good idea to rewrite it for the next revision.  I will add 
it to my paper of editorial suggestions for the next meeting.  With luck I 
should even have a concrete edit to suggest before then (I have given it some 
thought already).

>Having gone to the trouble to specify that a set of valid values exists
>for each type and kind, does the standard require anywhere that a value
>of an object of a particular type and type parameters is required to be
>a member of the set of valid values?

The concept is used in the text you just quoted... and would still be used, 
usefully, in the rewrite.

Cheers,
-- 
................................Malcolm Cohen, Nihon NAG, Tokyo.