diff --git a/src/num.c b/src/num.c
index 6131034a..12be9c95 100644
--- a/src/num.c
+++ b/src/num.c
@@ -2138,7 +2138,7 @@ size_t bc_num_len(const BcNum *restrict n) {
 
 	size_t len = n->len;
 
-	if (BC_NUM_ZERO(n)) return n->scale ? n->scale : 1;
+	if (BC_NUM_ZERO(n)) return n->scale;
 
 	if (BC_NUM_RDX_VAL(n) == len) {
 
diff --git a/tests/bc/length_results.txt b/tests/bc/length_results.txt
index 3501dea2..85267e2f 100644
--- a/tests/bc/length_results.txt
+++ b/tests/bc/length_results.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-1
+0
 4
 8
 11