diff --git a/client/consensus/babe/src/authorship.rs b/client/consensus/babe/src/authorship.rs
index 1b4bf5683ec5f..56841225ce49c 100644
--- a/client/consensus/babe/src/authorship.rs
+++ b/client/consensus/babe/src/authorship.rs
@@ -49,14 +49,44 @@ pub(super) fn calculate_primary_threshold(
 		authorities[authority_index].1 as f64 /
 		authorities.iter().map(|(_, weight)| weight).sum::<u64>() as f64;
 
-	let calc = || {
-		let p = BigRational::from_float(1f64 - (1f64 - c).powf(theta))?;
-		let numer = p.numer().to_biguint()?;
-		let denom = p.denom().to_biguint()?;
-		((BigUint::one() << 128) * numer / denom).to_u128()
-	};
-
-	calc().unwrap_or(u128::max_value())
+	assert!(theta > 0.0, "authority with weight 0.");
+
+	// NOTE: in the equation `p = 1 - (1 - c)^theta` the value of `p` is always
+	// capped by `c`. For all pratical purposes `c` should always be set to a
+	// value < 0.5, as such in the computations below we should never be near
+	// edge cases like `0.999999`.
+
+	let p = BigRational::from_float(1f64 - (1f64 - c).powf(theta)).expect(
+		"returns None when the given value is not finite; \
+		 c is a configuration parameter defined in (0, 1]; \
+		 theta must be > 0 if the given authority's weight is > 0; \
+		 theta represents the validator's relative weight defined in (0, 1]; \
+		 powf will always return values in (0, 1] given both the \
+		 base and exponent are in that domain; \
+		 qed.",
+	);
+
+	let numer = p.numer().to_biguint().expect(
+		"returns None when the given value is negative; \
+		 p is defined as `1 - n` where n is defined in (0, 1]; \
+		 p must be a value in [0, 1); \
+		 qed."
+	);
+
+	let denom = p.denom().to_biguint().expect(
+		"returns None when the given value is negative; \
+		 p is defined as `1 - n` where n is defined in (0, 1]; \
+		 p must be a value in [0, 1); \
+		 qed."
+	);
+
+	((BigUint::one() << 128) * numer / denom).to_u128().expect(
+		"returns None if the underlying value cannot be represented with 128 bits; \
+		 we start with 2^128 which is one more than can be represented with 128 bits; \
+		 we multiple by p which is defined in [0, 1); \
+		 the result must be lower than 2^128 by at least one and thus representable with 128 bits; \
+		 qed.",
+	)
 }
 
 /// Returns true if the given VRF output is lower than the given threshold,