Computed Amount and Differences in Provision for Income Taxes (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Pretax income	$ 392,440	$ 353,129	$ 86,204
Computed amount at statutory rate of 35%	137,354	123,595	30,171
State and local income tax (net of federal tax benefit)	4,875	4,382	2,406
Taxes on non-U.S. earnings-net of foreign tax credits	(9,378)	(9,683)	1,189
Effect of flow-through entities	(9,018)iex_EffectOfPassThroughEntitiesOnTax	(7,267)iex_EffectOfPassThroughEntitiesOnTax	(7,846)iex_EffectOfPassThroughEntitiesOnTax
Goodwill and intangible asset impairments	0	0	28,524
U.S. business tax credits	(1,680)	(1,516)	0
Domestic activities production deduction	(7,489)	(6,217)	(5,267)
Other	(1,610)	(5,380)	(603)
Total provision for income taxes	$ 113,054us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	$ 97,914us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	$ 48,574us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit

Effect of pass through entities on tax

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Sum of operating profit and nonoperating income or expense before Income or Loss from equity method investments, income taxes, extraordinary items, and noncontrolling interest.

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Amount of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 235

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Amount of the difference between reported income tax expense (benefit) and expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to foreign income tax expense (benefit).

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