code: protected boolean isFloatingPointNumber(Object val) {
      if (val instanceof Float || val instanceof Double) {
        return true;
      }
      if (val instanceof String) {
        String string = (String) val;
        return string.indexOf('.') != -1 || string.indexOf('e') != -1 || string.indexOf('E') != -1;
      }
      return false;
    }
docs: Test if the passed value is a floating point number, i.e. a float, double
  or string with ( "." | "E" | "e").
  
  @param val
  the object to be tested
  @return true if it is, false otherwise.