diff --git a/net_expr.cc b/net_expr.cc
index 90ea8cbf8..96f46d298 100644
--- a/net_expr.cc
+++ b/net_expr.cc
@@ -242,7 +242,11 @@ ivl_variable_type_t NetEBMinMax::expr_type() const
 NetEBMult::NetEBMult(char op, NetExpr*l, NetExpr*r)
 : NetEBinary(op, l, r)
 {
-      expr_width(l->expr_width() + r->expr_width());
+      if (expr_type() == IVL_VT_REAL)
+	    expr_width(1);
+      else
+	    expr_width(l->expr_width() + r->expr_width());
+
       cast_signed(l->has_sign() && r->has_sign());
 
 	/* If it turns out that this is not a signed expression, then
diff --git a/tgt-stub/expression.c b/tgt-stub/expression.c
index 5adc6b8b4..5a21a6a7a 100644
--- a/tgt-stub/expression.c
+++ b/tgt-stub/expression.c
@@ -88,15 +88,19 @@ static void show_binary_expression(ivl_expr_t net, unsigned ind)
 			stub_errors += 1;
 		  }
 	    } else {
-		    /* The width of multiply expressions is the sum of the
-		    widths of the operands. This is slightly different
-		    from the way the Verilog standard does it, but allows
-		    us to keep operands smaller. */
-		  width = ivl_expr_width(ivl_expr_oper1(net));
-		  width += ivl_expr_width(ivl_expr_oper2(net));
-		  if (ivl_expr_width(net) != width) {
-			fprintf(out, "%*sERROR: Result width incorrect. Expecting %u, got %u\n",
-				ind+3, "", width, ivl_expr_width(net));
+		    /* The width of a multiply may be any width. The
+		       implicit assumption is that the multiply
+		       returns a width that is the sum of the widths
+		       of the arguments, that is then truncated to the
+		       desired width, never padded. The compiler will
+		       automatically take care of sign extensions of
+		       arguments, so that the code generator need only
+		       generate an UNSIGNED multiply, and the result
+		       will come out right. */
+		  unsigned max_width = ivl_expr_width(oper1) + ivl_expr_width(oper2);
+		  if (ivl_expr_width(net) > max_width) {
+			fprintf(out, "%*sERROR: Result width to width. Expecting <= %u, got %u\n",
+				ind+3, "", max_width, ivl_expr_width(net));
 			stub_errors += 1;
 		  }
 	    }