diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtils.java
index e54b04c5a..c7867c11e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtils.java
@@ -2651,21 +2651,22 @@ public final class MathUtils {
             prodLowSum += prodLow;
         }
 
+
+        final double prodHighCur = prodHigh[0];
+        double prodHighNext = prodHigh[1];
+        double sHighPrev = prodHighCur + prodHighNext;
+        double sPrime = sHighPrev - prodHighNext;
+        double sLowSum = (prodHighNext - (sHighPrev - sPrime)) + (prodHighCur - sPrime);
+
         final int lenMinusOne = len - 1;
-        final double[] sHigh = new double[lenMinusOne];
-
-        sHigh[0] = prodHigh[0] + prodHigh[1];
-        double sPrime = sHigh[0] - prodHigh[1];
-        double sLowSum = (prodHigh[1] - (sHigh[0] - sPrime)) + (prodHigh[0] - sPrime);
-
         for (int i = 1; i < lenMinusOne; i++) {
-            final int prev = i - 1;
-            final int next = i + 1;
-            sHigh[i] = sHigh[prev] + prodHigh[next];
-            sPrime = sHigh[i] - prodHigh[next];
-            sLowSum += (prodHigh[next] - (sHigh[i] - sPrime)) + (sHigh[prev] - sPrime);
+            prodHighNext = prodHigh[i + 1];
+            final double sHighCur = sHighPrev + prodHighNext;
+            sPrime = sHighCur - prodHighNext;
+            sLowSum += (prodHighNext - (sHighCur - sPrime)) + (sHighPrev - sPrime);
+            sHighPrev = sHighCur;
         }
 
-        return sHigh[lenMinusOne - 1] + (prodLowSum + sLowSum);
+        return sHighPrev + (prodLowSum + sLowSum);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtilsTest.java
index cd5971291..7b6ad8e8e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/math/util/MathUtilsTest.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.math.exception.NotFiniteNumberException;
 import org.apache.commons.math.exception.NullArgumentException;
 import org.apache.commons.math.exception.util.LocalizedFormats;
 import org.apache.commons.math.random.RandomDataImpl;
+import org.apache.commons.math.random.Well1024a;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -1862,4 +1863,26 @@ public final class MathUtilsTest {
 
         Assert.assertEquals(abSumInline, abSumArray, 0);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLinearCombination2() {
+        // we compare accurate versus naive dot product implementations
+        // on regular vectors (i.e. not extreme cases like in the previous test)
+        Well1024a random = new Well1024a(553267312521321234l);
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < 10000; ++i) {
+            final double ux = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double uy = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double uz = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double vx = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double vy = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double vz = 1e17 * random.nextDouble();
+            final double sInline = MathUtils.linearCombination(ux, vx,
+                                                               uy, vy,
+                                                               uz, vz);
+            final double sArray = MathUtils.linearCombination(new double[] {ux, uy, uz},
+                                                              new double[] {vx, vy, vz});
+            Assert.assertEquals(sInline, sArray, 0);
+        }
+    }
 }