diff --git a/src/apex/simulated_annealing.cpp b/src/apex/simulated_annealing.cpp
index 33f7f893..79e544d5 100644
--- a/src/apex/simulated_annealing.cpp
+++ b/src/apex/simulated_annealing.cpp
@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@ size_t SimulatedAnnealing::get_max_iterations() {
     }
     //return max_iter / vars.size();
     //return max_iter * vars.size() *vars.size();
-    auto foo = std::min(max_iterations, (std::max(min_iterations, max_iter*vars.size())));
+    auto foo = max_iter;
+    if (vars.size() == 1) {
+        foo = max_iter * max_iter;
+    } else {
+        foo = std::min(max_iterations, (std::max(min_iterations, max_iter)));
+    }
     //std::cout << "Max iterations: " << foo << std::endl;
     return foo;
 }
diff --git a/src/apex/simulated_annealing.hpp b/src/apex/simulated_annealing.hpp
index 59911770..7af8939e 100644
--- a/src/apex/simulated_annealing.hpp
+++ b/src/apex/simulated_annealing.hpp
@@ -188,7 +188,12 @@ class SimulatedAnnealing {
         kmax = get_max_iterations();
         /* get max iterations */
         //std::cout << vars.size() << " Vars, Max iterations : " << kmax << std::endl;
-        restart = kmax / 10;
+        // prevent restart getting set to 0
+        if (kmax < 10) {
+            restart = kmax;
+        } else {
+            restart = kmax / 10;
+        }
     }
 };