      */
     public static function parseNumber (str :String) :Number
     {
-        var originalString :String = str;
-
         if (str == null) {
             throw new ArgumentError("Cannot parseNumber(null)");
         }

    /**
     * Internal helper function for parseNumber.
     */
    protected static function validateDecimal (str :String, allowDot :Boolean, allowTrailingE :Boolean) :String
    {
        // skip the leading minus
        if (str.charAt(0) == "-") {

    }

    /**
     * Format the specified number, nicely, with commas.
     * TODO: format specifyer, locale handling, etc. We'll probably move this into a
     * NumberFormat-style class.
     */
    public static function formatNumber (n :Number) :String
    {
        var postfix :String = "";
        var s :String = n.toString(); // use standard to-stringing

        // move any fractional portion to the postfix
        const dex :int = s.lastIndexOf(".");
        if (dex != -1) {
            postfix = s.substring(dex);
            s = s.substring(0, dex);
        }

        // hackily add commas
        while (s.length > 3) {
            postfix = "," + s.substring(s.length - 3) + postfix;
            s = s.substring(0, s.length - 3);
        }
        return s + postfix;
    }

    /**
     * Parse a Number from a String, throwing an ArgumentError if there are any
     * invalid characters.
     *
