diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/commons/math/linear/AbstractRealMatrix.java b/src/java/org/apache/commons/math/linear/AbstractRealMatrix.java
index 980ae45e2..643cb02c2 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/commons/math/linear/AbstractRealMatrix.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/commons/math/linear/AbstractRealMatrix.java
@@ -606,28 +606,30 @@ public abstract class AbstractRealMatrix implements RealMatrix, Serializable {
     /** {@inheritDoc} */
     public RealVector operate(final RealVector v)
         throws IllegalArgumentException {
-
-        final int nRows = getRowDimension();
-        final int nCols = getColumnDimension();
-        if (v.getDimension() != nCols) {
-            throw MathRuntimeException.createIllegalArgumentException("vector length mismatch:" +
-                                                                      " got {0} but expected {1}",
-                                                                      new Object[] {
-                                                                          v.getDimension(), nCols
-                                                                      });
-        }
-
-        final double[] out = new double[nRows];
-        for (int row = 0; row < nRows; ++row) {
-            double sum = 0;
-            for (int i = 0; i < nCols; ++i) {
-                sum += getEntry(row, i) * v.getEntry(i);
+        try {
+            return new RealVectorImpl(operate(((RealVectorImpl) v).getDataRef()), false);
+        } catch (ClassCastException cce) {
+            final int nRows = getRowDimension();
+            final int nCols = getColumnDimension();
+            if (v.getDimension() != nCols) {
+                throw MathRuntimeException.createIllegalArgumentException("vector length mismatch:" +
+                                                                          " got {0} but expected {1}",
+                                                                          new Object[] {
+                                                                              v.getDimension(), nCols
+                                                                          });
             }
-            out[row] = sum;
+
+            final double[] out = new double[nRows];
+            for (int row = 0; row < nRows; ++row) {
+                double sum = 0;
+                for (int i = 0; i < nCols; ++i) {
+                    sum += getEntry(row, i) * v.getEntry(i);
+                }
+                out[row] = sum;
+            }
+
+            return new RealVectorImpl(out, false);
         }
-
-        return new RealVectorImpl(out, false);
-
     }
 
     /** {@inheritDoc} */
@@ -660,28 +662,32 @@ public abstract class AbstractRealMatrix implements RealMatrix, Serializable {
     /** {@inheritDoc} */
     public RealVector preMultiply(final RealVector v)
         throws IllegalArgumentException {
+        try {
+            return new RealVectorImpl(preMultiply(((RealVectorImpl) v).getDataRef()), false);
+        } catch (ClassCastException cce) {
 
-        final int nRows = getRowDimension();
-        final int nCols = getColumnDimension();
-        if (v.getDimension() != nRows) {
-            throw MathRuntimeException.createIllegalArgumentException("vector length mismatch:" +
-                                                                      " got {0} but expected {1}",
-                                                                      new Object[] {
-                                                                          v.getDimension(), nRows
-                                                                      });
-        }
-
-        final double[] out = new double[nCols];
-        for (int col = 0; col < nCols; ++col) {
-            double sum = 0;
-            for (int i = 0; i < nRows; ++i) {
-                sum += getEntry(i, col) * v.getEntry(i);
+            final int nRows = getRowDimension();
+            final int nCols = getColumnDimension();
+            if (v.getDimension() != nRows) {
+                throw MathRuntimeException.createIllegalArgumentException("vector length mismatch:" +
+                                                                          " got {0} but expected {1}",
+                                                                          new Object[] {
+                                                                              v.getDimension(), nRows
+                                                                          });
             }
-            out[col] = sum;
+
+            final double[] out = new double[nCols];
+            for (int col = 0; col < nCols; ++col) {
+                double sum = 0;
+                for (int i = 0; i < nRows; ++i) {
+                    sum += getEntry(i, col) * v.getEntry(i);
+                }
+                out[col] = sum;
+            }
+
+            return new RealVectorImpl(out);
+
         }
-
-        return new RealVectorImpl(out);
-
     }
 
     /** {@inheritDoc} */