diff --git a/include/osg/Math b/include/osg/Math
index 12f670f17..48f3abd36 100644
--- a/include/osg/Math
+++ b/include/osg/Math
@@ -108,6 +108,11 @@ const double PI   = 3.14159265358979323846;
 const double PI_2 = 1.57079632679489661923;
 const double PI_4 = 0.78539816339744830962;
 
+/** return the minimum of two values, equivilant to std::min.
+  * std::min not used because of STL implementation under IRIX contains no std::min.*/
+template<typename T>
+inline T absolute(T v) { return v<(T)0?-v:v; }
+
 /** return the minimum of two values, equivilant to std::min.
   * std::min not used because of STL implementation under IRIX contains no std::min.*/
 template<typename T>