SIGNUM in integer form

[Bill Gosper <rwg@NIMBUS.SPA.Symbolics>]

    Date: 22 Oct 84 0047 EDT (Monday)
    From: Guy.Steele@CMU-CS-A.ARPA
    Maybe what you want is the third value from INTEGER-DECODE-FLOAT?
    (Not the most elegant thing, I admit.)
    --Guy
No, for 1.5 reasons:

1)    It doesn't return 0 for 0.

1.5)  It isn't documented what happens for integer arg.

Semi-apropos those pages, I really wish there were SCALE-BY-POWER-OF-2,
which various implementations could do much faster than
multiplication, for almost any representation of any kind of number.

SCALE-FLOAT can't do this because of hexadecimal affirmative action,
and having the wrong name.