diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/csvAnalysis.js b/frontend/src/lib/csvAnalysis.js
index d838e52..80c388a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/csvAnalysis.js
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/csvAnalysis.js
@@ -218,3 +218,15 @@ export function runAnalysis(rows, timestampCol, noteCol, classifications) {
     consecutiveStats,
   };
 }
+
+// ── Numeric extraction (for numerical buckets) ────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * Extract the first signed decimal from a string. Returns null if none found.
+ * Examples: "L25.5" -> 25.5, "R-12" -> -12, "abc" -> null
+ */
+export function extractNumber(str) {
+  if (str == null) return null;
+  const m = String(str).match(/-?\d+(\.\d+)?/);
+  return m ? parseFloat(m[0]) : null;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/tests/csvAnalysis.test.js b/frontend/tests/csvAnalysis.test.js
index f242b62..14544b9 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/csvAnalysis.test.js
+++ b/frontend/tests/csvAnalysis.test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   parseCSV,
   getUniqueNoteValues,
   runAnalysis,
+  extractNumber,
 } from '../src/lib/csvAnalysis';
 
 // ── Fixtures ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -276,3 +277,32 @@ describe('runAnalysis — edge cases', () => {
     expect(result.consecutiveStats['Failure'].totalRuns).toBe(1);
   });
 });
+
+describe('extractNumber', () => {
+  test('extracts positive decimal from prefixed string', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('L25.5')).toBe(25.5);
+  });
+  test('extracts negative integer with letter prefix', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('R-12')).toBe(-12);
+  });
+  test('extracts integer from underscore-separated label', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('trial_007')).toBe(7);
+  });
+  test('does not parse scientific notation as one number', () => {
+    // Accepted limitation: regex matches "3.2", strips "e2"
+    expect(extractNumber('3.2e2')).toBe(3.2);
+  });
+  test('strips trailing units', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('42 ms')).toBe(42);
+  });
+  test('returns null for purely alphabetic string', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('abc')).toBeNull();
+  });
+  test('returns null for empty string', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber('')).toBeNull();
+  });
+  test('returns null for null/undefined', () => {
+    expect(extractNumber(null)).toBeNull();
+    expect(extractNumber(undefined)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});