diff --git a/src/shogun/io/SerializableXmlReader00.cpp b/src/shogun/io/SerializableXmlReader00.cpp
index 9b3a697545c..b27ce022e54 100644
--- a/src/shogun/io/SerializableXmlReader00.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/io/SerializableXmlReader00.cpp
@@ -81,16 +81,13 @@ SerializableXmlReader00::read_scalar_wrapped(
 			result = false;
 		break;
 	case PT_FLOAT32:
-		if (sscanf(buf, "%g", (float32_t*) param) != 1)
-			result = false;
+		result = CMath::strtof(buf, (float32_t*) param);
 		break;
 	case PT_FLOAT64:
-		if (sscanf(buf, "%lg", (float64_t*) param) != 1)
-			result = false;
+		result = CMath::strtod(buf, (float64_t*) param);
 		break;
 	case PT_FLOATMAX:
-		if (sscanf(buf, "%Lg", (floatmax_t*) param) != 1)
-			result = false;
+		result = CMath::strtold(buf, (floatmax_t*) param);
 		break;
 	case PT_COMPLEX128:
 		float64_t c_real, c_imag;
diff --git a/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.cpp b/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.cpp
index 880e0b7442e..ffae4688cf7 100644
--- a/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.cpp
@@ -14,11 +14,18 @@
 #include <shogun/mathematics/Math.h>
 #include <shogun/mathematics/lapack.h>
 #include <shogun/io/SGIO.h>
+#include <shogun/lib/SGVector.h>
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <math.h>
 
+#ifndef NAN
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#define NAN (strtod("NAN",NULL))
+#endif
+
+
 using namespace shogun;
 
 #ifdef USE_LOGCACHE
@@ -34,7 +41,8 @@ int32_t CMath::LOGACCURACY         = 0; // 100000 steps per integer
 
 int32_t CMath::LOGRANGE            = 0; // range for logtable: log(1+exp(x))  -25 <= x <= 0
 
-const float64_t CMath::INFTY            =  -log(0.0);	// infinity
+const float64_t CMath::NOT_A_NUMBER    	=  NAN;
+const float64_t CMath::INFTY            =  INFINITY;	// infinity
 const float64_t CMath::ALMOST_INFTY		=  +1e+20;		//a large number
 const float64_t CMath::ALMOST_NEG_INFTY =  -1000;
 const float64_t CMath::PI=M_PI;
@@ -244,4 +252,98 @@ int CMath::is_finite(double f)
 #endif // #ifndef HAVE_STD_ISFINITE
 
   return std::isfinite(f);
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+bool CMath::strtof(const char* str, float32_t* result)
+{
+	ASSERT(str);
+	ASSERT(result);
+
+	SGVector<char> buf(strlen(str)+1);
+
+	for (index_t i=0; i<buf.vlen-1; i++)
+		buf[i]=tolower(str[i]);
+	buf[buf.vlen-1]='\0';
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "inf") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::INFTY;
+
+		if (strchr(buf,'-') != NULL)
+			*result *= -1;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "nan") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::NOT_A_NUMBER;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	char* endptr = buf.vector;
+	*result=::strtof(str, &endptr);
+	return endptr != buf.vector;
+}
+
+bool CMath::strtod(const char* str, float64_t* result)
+{
+	ASSERT(str);
+	ASSERT(result);
+
+	SGVector<char> buf(strlen(str)+1);
+
+	for (index_t i=0; i<buf.vlen-1; i++)
+		buf[i]=tolower(str[i]);
+	buf[buf.vlen-1]='\0';
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "inf") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::INFTY;
+
+		if (strchr(buf,'-') != NULL)
+			*result *= -1;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "nan") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::NOT_A_NUMBER;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	char* endptr = buf.vector;
+	*result=::strtod(str, &endptr);
+	return endptr != buf.vector;
+}
+
+bool CMath::strtold(const char* str, floatmax_t* result)
+{
+	ASSERT(str);
+	ASSERT(result);
+
+	SGVector<char> buf(strlen(str)+1);
+
+	for (index_t i=0; i<buf.vlen-1; i++)
+		buf[i]=tolower(str[i]);
+	buf[buf.vlen-1]='\0';
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "inf") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::INFTY;
+
+		if (strchr(buf,'-') != NULL)
+			*result *= -1;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	if (strstr(buf, "nan") != NULL)
+	{
+		*result = CMath::NOT_A_NUMBER;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	char* endptr = buf.vector;
+	*result=::strtold(str, &endptr);
+	return endptr != buf.vector;
+}
+
diff --git a/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.h b/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.h
index fc20a041aef..ed292679ec5 100644
--- a/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.h
+++ b/src/shogun/mathematics/Math.h
@@ -66,11 +66,6 @@
 #endif
 #endif //_WIN32
 
-#ifndef NAN
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#define NAN (strtod("NAN",NULL))
-#endif
-
 /* Size of RNG seed */
 #define RNG_SEED_SIZE 256
 
@@ -507,6 +502,10 @@ class CMath : public CSGObject
 			return area;
 		}
 
+		static bool strtof(const char* str, float32_t* result);
+		static bool strtod(const char* str, float64_t* result);
+		static bool strtold(const char* str, floatmax_t* result);
+
 		static inline int64_t factorial(int32_t n)
 		{
 			int64_t res=1;
@@ -1259,7 +1258,7 @@ class CMath : public CSGObject
 			if (!CMath::is_finite(q))
 			{
 				SG_SWARNING("INVALID second operand to logsum(%f,%f) expect undefined results\n", p, q)
-				return NAN;
+				return NOT_A_NUMBER;
 			}
 			diff = p - q;
 			if (diff > 0)
@@ -1325,6 +1324,8 @@ class CMath : public CSGObject
 	public:
 				/**@name constants*/
 				//@{
+				/// not a number
+				static const float64_t NOT_A_NUMBER;
 				/// infinity
 				static const float64_t INFTY;
 				static const float64_t ALMOST_INFTY;
diff --git a/tests/unit/mathematics/Math_unittest.cc b/tests/unit/mathematics/Math_unittest.cc
index 29b391e157f..8dcc69fedd0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/mathematics/Math_unittest.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/mathematics/Math_unittest.cc
@@ -164,3 +164,51 @@ TEST(CMath, log_mean_exp)
 	values.range_fill();
 	EXPECT_NEAR(CMath::log_mean_exp(values), 1.3089936757762706, 1e-15);
 }
+
+TEST(CMath, strtofloat)
+{
+	float32_t float_result = 0;
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtof("nan", &float_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_nan(float_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtof("inf", &float_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_infinity(float_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtof("-inf", &float_result));
+	EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(-CMath::INFTY, float_result);
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtof("1.2345", &float_result));
+	EXPECT_FLOAT_EQ(1.2345, float_result);
+}
+
+TEST(CMath, strtodouble)
+{
+	float64_t double_result = 0;
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtod("nan", &double_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_nan(double_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtod("inf", &double_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_infinity(double_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtod("-inf", &double_result));
+	EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(-CMath::INFTY, double_result);
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtod("1.234567890123", &double_result));
+	EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(1.234567890123, double_result);
+}
+
+TEST(CMath, strtolongdouble)
+{
+	floatmax_t long_double_result = 0;
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtold("nan", &long_double_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_nan(long_double_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtold("inf", &long_double_result));
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::is_infinity(long_double_result));
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtold("-inf", &long_double_result));
+	EXPECT_DOUBLE_EQ(-CMath::INFTY, long_double_result);
+
+	EXPECT_TRUE(CMath::strtold("1.234567890123", &long_double_result));
+	EXPECT_EQ(long_double_result, 1.234567890123);
+}