diff --git a/source/matutils.hpp b/source/matutils.hpp
index f7468c5..4a8692d 100644
--- a/source/matutils.hpp
+++ b/source/matutils.hpp
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 #ifndef MATUTILS_HPP
 #define MATUTILS_HPP
 
+#include "RnnTextHelper.hpp"
+
 #include <math.h>
 
 namespace Matutils
@@ -66,6 +68,22 @@ namespace Matutils
 		return x/stddev;
 	}
 
+	inline arma::mat char2vec(char c, size_t len)
+	{
+		arma::mat result = arma::zeros(1, len);
+		int idx = RnnTextHelper::ch2idx(c);
+		result[idx] = 1;
+		
+		return result;
+	}
+	
+	inline char vec2char(arma::mat const &vec)
+	{
+		char result = RnnTextHelper::idx2ch(vec.index_max());
+		
+		return result;
+	}
+
 }
 
 #endif /* MATUTILS_HPP */
diff --git a/source/poet.cpp b/source/poet.cpp
index 3d7fad2..8dff32a 100644
--- a/source/poet.cpp
+++ b/source/poet.cpp
@@ -60,10 +60,8 @@ class RbmListener : public Rbm::IListener
 		
 		for (int i=0; i < start.size(); i++)
 		{
-			arma::mat curr = zeros(1, RnnTextHelper::NUM_CODES);
-			int idx = RnnTextHelper::ch2idx(start.at(i));
-			curr[idx] = 1;
-			curr_str.append(1,RnnTextHelper::idx2ch(curr.index_max()));
+			curr = Matutils::char2vec(start.at(i), RnnTextHelper::NUM_CODES);
+			curr_str.append(1, Matutils::vec2char(curr));
 			arma::mat r = stack->step_forward(state, curr);
 			next = stack->to_next(r);
 			stack->clamp_one_hot(next);
@@ -73,7 +71,7 @@ class RbmListener : public Rbm::IListener
 		for (int i=stack->getSeqLen(); i < t_vc.n_rows; i++)
 		{
 			curr = next;
-			curr_str.append(1,RnnTextHelper::idx2ch(curr.index_max()));
+			curr_str.append(1, Matutils::vec2char(curr));
 			arma::mat r = stack->step_forward(state, curr);
 			next = stack->to_next(r);
 			stack->clamp_one_hot(next);
@@ -150,7 +148,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		for (int i=0; i < t_vc.n_rows; i++)
 		{
 			arma::mat curr = stack->to_curr(t_vc.row(i));
-			char c = RnnTextHelper::idx2ch(curr.index_max());
+			char c = Matutils::vec2char(curr);
 			putchar(c);
 		}
 		printf("\n");