diff --git a/Doc/library/functions.rst b/Doc/library/functions.rst
--- a/Doc/library/functions.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/functions.rst
@@ -629,11 +629,15 @@
    to provide elaborate line editing and history features.
 
 
-.. function:: int([number | string[, base]])
+.. function:: int(x=0)
+              int(x, base=10)
 
-   Convert a number or string to an integer.  If no arguments are given, return
-   ``0``.  If a number is given, return ``number.__int__()``.  Conversion of
-   floating point numbers to integers truncates towards zero.  A string must be
+   Convert a number or string *x* to an integer.  If no arguments are given,
+   return ``0``.  If *x* is a number, return ``x.__int__()``.  Otherwise,
+   convert *x* to an integer using base *base*.
+
+   Conversion of floating point numbers to integers truncates towards zero.  If
+   *base* is given, then *x* must be a string.  The string must be
    a base-radix integer literal optionally preceded by '+' or '-' (with no space
    in between) and optionally surrounded by whitespace.  A base-n literal
    consists of the digits 0 to n-1, with 'a' to 'z' (or 'A' to 'Z') having