[xsl] What does //distinct-values(...) mean?

Hi Folks,

I executed this XPath query in Oxygen:

//distinct-values(//Row[matches(Advertiser, 'TS3', 'i')]/Subscribers)

The two slashes at the beginning were an accident. At the bottom of the screen 
Oxygen shows the matches. All of a sudden it showed 111,000 matches, then a 
moment later 438,000 matches, and then finally 525,946 matches.

"Yikes!" I thought, "What is going on? There is supposed to be around 17 
matches. How can there be half a million matches?"

Then I saw the two slashes at the start.

"Hmm, what is the meaning of two slashes preceding the distinct-values 
function?" I thought.

So, I ask you: what is the meaning of two slashes preceding the distinct-values 
function? Why does its evaluation result in so many matches?

/Roger
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