For example, my ebony war axe shows damage 27 (-10).

In relation to the weapon you currently have equipped.

Eg. If you have a sword equipped at 44 and your looking at a mace at 33. It will show (-11)

Does anyone else have problems with erroneous difference numbers though? I think it may be caused by improving a weapon you have equipped. Sometimes when I select a weapon, it has a higher value in parentheses than it should be? I.e. it shows a positive difference when highlighting the equipped weapon. Hope this makes sense..

I thought it indicated the weapons potential when improved...