diff --git a/miscprob.cc b/miscprob.cc
index b88eaa0232270bee2f76882b3f9890eee8ec0cb1..633267a17cf3636723f50a7097647a76159b8653 100644
--- a/miscprob.cc
+++ b/miscprob.cc
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ ReturnMatrix gammapdf(const RowVector& vals, const float mu, const float var)
   return res;
 }
 
+  float normpdf(const float val, const float mu, const float var)
+  {
+    return std::exp(-0.5*(std::pow(val-mu,2)/var))*std::pow(2*M_PI*var,-0.5);
+  }
 
 ReturnMatrix normpdf(const RowVector& vals, const RowVector& mu, const RowVector& var)
 {
diff --git a/miscprob.h b/miscprob.h
index a801e912a5d9838542fb97e7027576fd7eedd8b4..100eda4e09eeb37d22e9d8e6a3d726c0527ec453 100644
--- a/miscprob.h
+++ b/miscprob.h
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ namespace MISCMATHS {
   // returns nsamps*nparams matrix:
   ReturnMatrix mvnrnd(const RowVector& mu, const SymmetricMatrix& covar, int nsamp = 1);
   
+  float normpdf(const float val, const float mu = 0, const float var = 1);
 
   ReturnMatrix normpdf(const RowVector& vals, const float mu = 0, const float var = 1);