Solve function returns %rX symbols



Running the command:

solve([c=r*x^2+s*y^2+s*w^2, 0=x*(l+2*s), 0=y*(l+2)] , [x,y,c,l]);

produces output like:
[[x=0,y=0,c=s*w^2,l=%r1],[x=%r2,y=0,c=s*w^2+%r2^2*r,l=-2*s],[x=0,y=%r3,c=
s*w^2+%r3^2*s,l=-2]]

I was unable to find documentation on what the values %r1 , etc. represent.
My guess was that they are real numbers. I tried ev to evaluate them or
to_float, but this didn't show any value.

Thanks,
Gus