diff --git a/src/consspaceobject.h b/src/consspaceobject.h
index 5526e8c..0d92e25 100644
--- a/src/consspaceobject.h
+++ b/src/consspaceobject.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
  *  Licensed under GPL version 2.0, or, at your option, any later version.
  */
 
+#include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@
 
 /**
  * true if conspointer points to the special cell NIL, else false 
+ * (there should only be one of these so it's slightly redundant).
  */
 #define nilp(conspoint) (check_tag(conspoint,NILTAG))
 
@@ -65,6 +67,35 @@
  */
 #define stringp(conspoint) (check_tag(conspoint,STRINGTAG))
 
+/**
+ * true if conspointer points to an integer cell, else false 
+ */
+#define integerp(conspoint) (check_tag(conspoint,INTEGERTAG))
+
+/**
+ * true if conspointer points to a real number cell, else false 
+ */
+#define realp(conspoint) (check_tag(conspoint,REALTAG))
+
+/**
+ * true if conspointer points to some sort of a number cell, 
+ * else false
+ */
+#define numberp(conspoint) (check_tag(conspoint,INTEGERTAG)||check_tag(conspoint,REALTAG))
+
+/**
+ * true if conspointer points to a true cell, else false 
+ * (there should only be one of these so it's slightly redundant).
+ * Also note that anything that is not NIL is truthy.
+ */
+#define tp(conspoint) (checktag(conspoint,TRUETAG))
+
+/**
+ * true if conspoint points to something that is truthy, i.e.
+ * anything but NIL.
+ */
+#define truep(conspoint) (!checktag(conspoint,NILTAG))
+
 /**
  * An indirect pointer to a cons cell
  */
diff --git a/src/equal.c b/src/equal.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b5cc6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/equal.c
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/**
+ * equal.c
+ *
+ * Checks for shallow and deep equality
+ *
+ * (c) 2017 Simon Brooke <simon@journeyman.cc>
+ * Licensed under GPL version 2.0, or, at your option, any later version.
+ */
+
+#include <math.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
+
+#include "conspage.h"
+#include "consspaceobject.h"
+#include "integer.h"
+
+/**
+ * Shallow, and thus cheap, equality: true if these two objects are 
+ * the same object, else false.
+ */
+bool eq( struct cons_pointer a, struct cons_pointer b) {
+  return ((a.page == b.page) && (a.offset == b.offset));
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Deep, and thus expensive, equality: true if these two objects have
+ * identical structure, else false.
+ */
+bool equal( struct cons_pointer a, struct cons_pointer b) {
+  bool result = eq( a, b);
+
+  if ( ! result) {
+    struct cons_space_object* cell_a = &pointer2cell( a);
+    struct cons_space_object* cell_b = &pointer2cell( b);
+
+    if ( consp( a) && consp( b)) {
+      result = equal( cell_a->payload.cons.car, cell_b->payload.cons.car) &&
+	equal( cell_a->payload.cons.cdr, cell_b->payload.cons.cdr);
+    } else if ( stringp( a) && stringp( b)) {
+      /* slightly complex because a string may or may not have a '\0' cell
+       * at the end, but I'll ignore that for now. I think in practice only
+       * the empty string will. */
+      result = cell_a->payload.string.character == cell_b->payload.string.character &&
+	equal( cell_a->payload.string.cdr, cell_b->payload.string.cdr);
+    } else if ( numberp( a) && numberp( b)) {
+      double num_a = numeric_value( a);
+      double num_b = numeric_value( b);
+      double max = fabs( num_a) > fabs( num_b) ? fabs( num_a) : fabs( num_b);
+
+      /* not more different than one part in a million - close enough */
+      result = fabs( num_a - num_b) < (max / 1000000.0);
+    }
+    /* there's only supposed ever to be one T and one NIL cell, so each should
+     * be caught by eq; equality of vector-space objects is a whole other ball
+     * game so we won't deal with it now (and indeedmay never). I'm not certain
+     * what equality means for read and write streams, so I'll ignore them, too,
+     * for now.*/
+  }
+  
+  return result;
+}
diff --git a/src/equal.h b/src/equal.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..502dd32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/equal.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/**
+ * equal.h
+ *
+ * Checks for shallow and deep equality
+ *
+ * (c) 2017 Simon Brooke <simon@journeyman.cc>
+ * Licensed under GPL version 2.0, or, at your option, any later version.
+ */
+
+#include <math.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
+
+#ifndef __equal_h
+#define __equal_h
+
+/**
+ * Shallow, and thus cheap, equality: true if these two objects are 
+ * the same object, else false.
+ */
+bool eq( struct cons_pointer a, struct cons_pointer b);
+
+/**
+ * Deep, and thus expensive, equality: true if these two objects have
+ * identical structure, else false.
+ */
+bool equal( struct cons_pointer a, struct cons_pointer b);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/integer.c b/src/integer.c
index 1493c9d..8f7b044 100644
--- a/src/integer.c
+++ b/src/integer.c
@@ -7,10 +7,32 @@
  * Licensed under GPL version 2.0, or, at your option, any later version.
  */
 
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include <math.h>
+
 #include "conspage.h"
 #include "consspaceobject.h"
 #include "read.h"
 
+/**
+ * return the numeric value of this cell, as a C primitive double, not
+ * as a cons-space object. Cell may in principle be any kind of number,
+ * but only integers and reals are so far implemented.
+ */
+double numeric_value( struct cons_pointer pointer) {
+  double result = NAN;
+  struct cons_space_object* cell = &pointer2cell(pointer);
+
+  if ( integerp( pointer)) {
+    result = (double) cell->payload.integer.value;
+  } else if ( realp( pointer)) {
+    result = cell->payload.real.value;
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Allocate an integer cell representing this value and return a cons pointer to it.
  */
diff --git a/src/integer.h b/src/integer.h
index 83f4f57..5d1df67 100644
--- a/src/integer.h
+++ b/src/integer.h
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 #ifndef __integer_h
 #define __integer_h
 
+double numeric_value( struct cons_pointer pointer);
+
 /**
  * Allocate an integer cell representing this value and return a cons pointer to it.
  */
diff --git a/src/print.c b/src/print.c
index be6cac8..479454e 100644
--- a/src/print.c
+++ b/src/print.c
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ void print_list( FILE* output, struct cons_pointer pointer) {
 void print( FILE* output, struct cons_pointer pointer) {
   struct cons_space_object cell = pointer2cell( pointer);
 
+  /* Because tags have values as well as bytes, this if ... else if
+   * statement can ultimately be replaced by a switch, which will
+   * be neater. */
   if ( check_tag( pointer, CONSTAG)) {
     print_list( output, pointer);
   } else if ( check_tag( pointer, INTEGERTAG)) {