According to Maurice Lombardi:
writeln ( abs ( -12.1 : 0 : 1 ) ); (* 12.1 *);
^^^^^^^^^^^ I think, something is goin wrong...
No no, at least in BP, the actual length is adjusted upwards to contain what needs to be written if the specified length is too short. [...]
No, that was not the issue: Carefully watch the nesting of the parentheses ... ;-)
Peter