﻿# Matching any series of decimals is deceptively complicated
(?<IsNegative>\-)?                # It might be start with a -
(?:(?>                            # Then it can be either: 
    (?<Characteristic>\d+)        # One or more digits (the Characteristic)
    (?:\.(?<Mantissa>\d+)){0,1}   # followed by a period and one or more digits (the Mantissa)
    |                             # Or it can be
    (?:\.(?<Mantissa>\d+))        # just a Mantissa      
))
(?:
    E
    (?<Exponent>
        [+-]\d+
    )
)?