diff --git a/lib/rexml/functions.rb b/lib/rexml/functions.rb
index b84209619d..0f91fcd23f 100644
--- a/lib/rexml/functions.rb
+++ b/lib/rexml/functions.rb
@@ -136,21 +136,36 @@ module REXML
     # An object of a type other than the four basic types is converted to a
     # string in a way that is dependent on that type.
     def Functions::string( object=nil )
-      #object = @context unless object
-      if object.instance_of? Array
-        string( object[0] )
-      elsif defined? object.node_type
-        if object.node_type == :attribute
+      object = @@context[:node] if object.nil?
+      if object.respond_to?(:node_type)
+        case object.node_type
+        when :attribute
           object.value
-        elsif object.node_type == :element || object.node_type == :document
+        when :element
           string_value(object)
+        when :document
+          string_value(object.root)
+        when :processing_instruction
+          object.content
         else
           object.to_s
         end
-      elsif object.nil?
-        return ""
       else
-        object.to_s
+        case object
+        when Array
+          string(object[0])
+        when Numeric
+          integer = object.to_i
+          if object == integer
+            "%d" % integer
+          else
+            object.to_s
+          end
+        when nil
+          ""
+        else
+          object.to_s
+        end
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/rexml/test_jaxen.rb b/test/rexml/test_jaxen.rb
index 69c74d5572..671c185ea5 100644
--- a/test/rexml/test_jaxen.rb
+++ b/test/rexml/test_jaxen.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ module REXMLTests
     def _test_namespaces ; process_test_case("namespaces") ; end
     def _test_nitf ; process_test_case("nitf") ; end
     def _test_numbers ; process_test_case("numbers") ; end
-    def _test_pi ; process_test_case("pi") ; end
+    def test_pi ; process_test_case("pi") ; end
     def _test_pi2 ; process_test_case("pi2") ; end
     def _test_simple ; process_test_case("simple") ; end
     def _test_testNamespaces ; process_test_case("testNamespaces") ; end
@@ -79,29 +79,12 @@ module REXMLTests
     def process_value_of(context, variables, namespaces, value_of)
       expected = value_of.text
       xpath = value_of.attributes["select"]
-      matched = XPath.first(context, xpath, namespaces, variables)
+      matched = XPath.match(context, xpath, namespaces, variables)
 
       message = user_message(context, xpath, matched)
-
-      if expected.nil?
-        assert_nil(matched, message)
-      else
-        case matched
-        when Element
-          assert_equal(expected, matched.text, message)
-        when Attribute, Text, Comment, TrueClass, FalseClass
-          assert_equal(expected, matched.to_s, message)
-        when Instruction
-          assert_equal(expected, matched.content, message)
-        when Integer, Float
-          assert_equal(expected.to_f, matched, message)
-        when String
-          assert_equal(expected, matched, message)
-        else
-          flunk("#{message}\n" +
-                "Unexpected match value: <#{matched.inspect}>")
-        end
-      end
+      assert_equal(expected || "",
+                   REXML::Functions.string(matched),
+                   message)
     end
 
     # processes a tests/document/context/test node ( where @exception is false or doesn't exist )