-This function returns the numeric value of the characters in
-@var{string}, read in @var{base}. It skips spaces and tabs at the
-beginning of @var{string}, then reads as much of @var{string} as it can
-interpret as a number. (On some systems it ignores other whitespace at
-the beginning, not just spaces and tabs.) If the first character after
-the ignored whitespace is not a digit or a minus sign, this function
-returns 0.
+This function returns the numeric value represented by @var{string},
+read in @var{base}. It skips spaces and tabs at the beginning of
+@var{string}, then reads as much of @var{string} as it can interpret as
+a number. (On some systems it ignores other whitespace at the
+beginning, not just spaces and tabs.) If the first character after the
+ignored whitespace is not a digit or a minus sign, this function returns
+0.