diff --git a/include/curves/polynomial.h b/include/curves/polynomial.h
index bde952823b140b9322d8ced28efb75cfa8e4ec3a..1074542b6e00c578d04a8b303d7d95dbe496b071 100644
--- a/include/curves/polynomial.h
+++ b/include/curves/polynomial.h
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ namespace curves
 
       coeff_t deriv_coeff(coeff_t coeff) const
       {
+        if(coeff.cols() == 1) // only the constant part is left, fill with 0
+          return coeff_t::Zero(coeff.rows(),1);
         coeff_t coeff_derivated(coeff.rows(), coeff.cols()-1);
         for (std::size_t i=0; i<std::size_t(coeff_derivated.cols()); i++) {
           coeff_derivated.col(i) = coeff.col(i+1)*(num_t)(i+1);