diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 7ef4616fe6..736d1c7dcb 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 Tue Jul 22 02:22:45 2003  Yukihiro Matsumoto  <matz@ruby-lang.org>
 
+	* numeric.c (num_equal): should not use rb_equal().
+
 	* string.c (rb_str_equal): should return nil for non string
 	  operand to conform comparable convention. [ruby-dev:20759]
 
-	* object.c (rb_equal): preserve nil if "==" returns nil.
-
 Tue Jul 22 00:19:19 2003  Yukihiro Matsumoto  <matz@ruby-lang.org>
 
 	* lib/tmpdir.rb: new library to get temporary directory path,
diff --git a/numeric.c b/numeric.c
index d97c1493d4..37ff50e8c3 100644
--- a/numeric.c
+++ b/numeric.c
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 #define DBL_EPSILON 2.2204460492503131e-16
 #endif
 
-static ID id_coerce, id_to_i;
+static ID id_coerce, id_to_i, id_eq;
 
 VALUE rb_cNumeric;
 VALUE rb_cFloat;
@@ -515,7 +515,8 @@ static VALUE
 num_equal(x, y)
     VALUE x, y;
 {
-    return rb_equal(y, x);
+    if (x == y) return Qtrue;
+    return rb_funcall(y, id_eq, 1, x);
 }
 
 static VALUE
@@ -1804,6 +1805,7 @@ Init_Numeric()
 #endif
     id_coerce = rb_intern("coerce");
     id_to_i = rb_intern("to_i");
+    id_eq = rb_intern("==");
 
     rb_eZeroDivError = rb_define_class("ZeroDivisionError", rb_eStandardError);
     rb_eFloatDomainError = rb_define_class("FloatDomainError", rb_eRangeError);
diff --git a/object.c b/object.c
index e168fa7505..7e8b5e68e1 100644
--- a/object.c
+++ b/object.c
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ rb_equal(obj1, obj2)
     if (obj1 == obj2) return Qtrue;
     result = rb_funcall(obj1, id_eq, 1, obj2);
     if (RTEST(result)) return Qtrue;
-    return result;
+    return Qfalse;
 }
 
 int