diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/SNPGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/SNPGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel.java
index 742d4aadf..9bdc754e9 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/SNPGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/genotyper/SNPGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel.java
@@ -122,13 +122,10 @@ public class SNPGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel extends GenotypeLikelihoodsC
             aList.add(refAllele);
             aList.add(altAllele);
             double[] dlike = new double[]{likelihoods[refGenotype.ordinal()],likelihoods[hetGenotype.ordinal()],likelihoods[homGenotype.ordinal()]} ;
-            double maxElement = MathUtils.max(dlike[AlleleFrequencyCalculationModel.GenotypeType.AA.ordinal()],
-                    dlike[AlleleFrequencyCalculationModel.GenotypeType.AB.ordinal()],dlike[AlleleFrequencyCalculationModel.GenotypeType.BB.ordinal()]);
-            for (int i=0; i < dlike.length; i++)
-                 dlike[i] -= maxElement;
 
+            // normalize in log space so that max element is zero.
             GLs.put(sample.getKey(), new MultiallelicGenotypeLikelihoods(sample.getKey(),
-                    aList,  dlike, getFilteredDepth(pileup)));
+                    aList,  MathUtils.normalizeFromLog10(dlike, false, true), getFilteredDepth(pileup)));
         }
 
         return refAllele;
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/PairHMMIndelErrorModel.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/PairHMMIndelErrorModel.java
index 4f9bccc42..31e9819ab 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/PairHMMIndelErrorModel.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/PairHMMIndelErrorModel.java
@@ -1041,20 +1041,14 @@ public class PairHMMIndelErrorModel {
         double[] genotypeLikelihoods = new double[hSize*(hSize+1)/2];
 
         int k=0;
-        double maxElement = Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
         for (int j=0; j < hSize; j++) {
             for (int i=0; i <= j; i++){
                 genotypeLikelihoods[k++] = haplotypeLikehoodMatrix[i][j];
-                if (haplotypeLikehoodMatrix[i][j] > maxElement)
-                    maxElement = haplotypeLikehoodMatrix[i][j];
             }
         }
 
-        // renormalize
-        for (int i=0; i < genotypeLikelihoods.length; i++)
-            genotypeLikelihoods[i] -= maxElement;
-
-        return genotypeLikelihoods;
+        // renormalize   so that max element is zero.
+        return MathUtils.normalizeFromLog10(genotypeLikelihoods, false, true);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MathUtils.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MathUtils.java
index 0d85f9606..17e74c4f1 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MathUtils.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MathUtils.java
@@ -444,11 +444,25 @@ public class MathUtils {
      * @return a newly allocated array corresponding the normalized values in array, maybe log10 transformed
     */
     public static double[] normalizeFromLog10(double[] array, boolean takeLog10OfOutput) {
-        double[] normalized = new double[array.length];
+        return normalizeFromLog10(array, takeLog10OfOutput, false);
+    }
+
+    public static double[] normalizeFromLog10(double[] array, boolean takeLog10OfOutput, boolean keepInLogSpace) {
 
         // for precision purposes, we need to add (or really subtract, since they're
         // all negative) the largest value; also, we need to convert to normal-space.
         double maxValue = Utils.findMaxEntry(array);
+
+        // we may decide to just normalize in log space with converting to linear space
+        if (keepInLogSpace) {
+            for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++)
+                array[i] -= maxValue;
+            return array;
+        }
+
+        // default case: go to linear space
+        double[] normalized = new double[array.length];
+
         for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++)
             normalized[i] = Math.pow(10, array[i] - maxValue);