diff --git a/libsais64-rs/src/lib.rs b/libsais64-rs/src/lib.rs
index 8b075bd..e0ff871 100644
--- a/libsais64-rs/src/lib.rs
+++ b/libsais64-rs/src/lib.rs
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ pub fn sais64(text: &Vec<u8>, sparseness_factor: u8) -> Result<Vec<i64>, &str> {
             libsais_sparseness -= 1;
         }
 
-        if sparseness_factor % libsais_sparseness != 0 {
+        if libsais_sparseness * BITS_PER_CHAR <= 16 {
             return Err("invalid sparseness factor");
         }
 
diff --git a/sa-builder/src/lib.rs b/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
index 529e1be..2cd4afb 100644
--- a/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
+++ b/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
@@ -56,8 +56,7 @@ pub fn build_ssa(
     let mut sa = match construction_algorithm {
         SAConstructionAlgorithm::LibSais => libsais64_rs::sais64(&text, sparseness_factor)?,
         SAConstructionAlgorithm::LibDivSufSort => libdivsufsort_rs::divsufsort64(text).ok_or("Building suffix array failed")?
-    }
-    ;
+    };
 
     // make the SA sparse and decrease the vector size if we have sampling (sampling_rate > 1)
     if *construction_algorithm == SAConstructionAlgorithm::LibDivSufSort {