diff --git a/src/damerau_levenshtein.rs b/src/damerau_levenshtein.rs
index 0832407..e07f458 100644
--- a/src/damerau_levenshtein.rs
+++ b/src/damerau_levenshtein.rs
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ pub fn damerau_levenshtein(s: &str, t: &str) -> usize {
             let j = j + 1;
             let last = *char_map.get(&t_char).unwrap_or(&0);
 
-            let cost = if s_char == t_char { 0 } else { 1 };
+            let cost = (s_char != t_char) as usize;
             mat[i+1][j+1] = utils::min4(
                 mat[i+1][j] + 1,     // deletion
                 mat[i][j+1] + 1,     // insertion 
diff --git a/src/levenshtein.rs b/src/levenshtein.rs
index 1f18d5c..9b971a7 100644
--- a/src/levenshtein.rs
+++ b/src/levenshtein.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ pub fn levenshtein(s: &str, t: &str) -> usize {
     // apply edit operations
     for (i, s_char) in s.chars().enumerate() {
         for (j, t_char) in t.chars().enumerate() {
-            let substitution = if s_char == t_char {0} else {1};
+            let substitution = (s_char == t_char) as usize;
             mat[i+1][j+1] = utils::min3(
                 mat[i][j+1] + 1,            // deletion
                 mat[i+1][j] + 1,            // insertion 
@@ -107,4 +107,4 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(1, levenshtein("༆༃ʘ", "༆˥ʘ"));
     }
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}