Use result from pgfmath with xifthen

Question

I try to use the results of pgfmath calculations with cnttest from xifthen, but it fails:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgf,xifthen}

\begin{document}
  \pgfmathparse{42+77}%
  \def\val{\pgfmathprintnumber{\pgfmathresult}}
  \ifthenelse{\cnttest{\val}{>=}{50}}{%
    Large
  }{%
    Small
  }%
\end{document}

pdflatex (TexLive 2012) produces in the log:

./test.tex:7: Missing number, treated as zero.
<to be read again> 
                   \protect 
l.7   \ifthenelse{\cnttest{\val}{>=}{50}}
                                         {%

And in the document (yes, the message leaves the page):

I suspect it's an expansion problem -- something I seem to be unable to wrap my head around. I know that using \pgfmathprintnumber{\pgfmathresult} directly (instead of val does not help. Can I fix this somehow?

Answer 1

You are already using PGF so why not use also the conditionals of PGF ?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgf}
\begin{document}
  \pgfmathparse{42+77<50? "Small" : "Large"}\pgfmathresult%
\end{document}