diff --git a/test/unit/test_transcendental_helpers.py b/test/unit/test_transcendental_helpers.py
index 86b93e671d..30891868ce 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_transcendental_helpers.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_transcendental_helpers.py
@@ -19,26 +19,24 @@ class TestTranscendentalFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
     np.testing.assert_equal(q, 12)
 
   def test_frexp(self):
-    mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 0.0)))
-    np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.0)
-    np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 0)
+    for x in (1, -1):
+      mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, x)))
+      np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.5)
+      np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 1)
 
-    mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 1.0)))
-    np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.5)
-    np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 1)
-
-    mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, -1.0)))
-    np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.5)
-    np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 1)
-
-    mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 2.0)))
-    np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.5)
-    np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 2)
+    for x in (2, -2):
+      mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 2.0)))
+      np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.5)
+      np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 2)
 
     mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 5.0)))
     np.testing.assert_equal(mantissa, 0.625)
     np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 3)
 
+    mantissa, exponent = (eval_uop(u) for u in frexp(UOp.const(dtypes.float64, 1000.0)))
+    np.testing.assert_allclose(mantissa, 0.9765625)
+    np.testing.assert_equal(exponent, 10)
+
   def test_rintk(self):
     np.testing.assert_allclose(eval_uop(rintk(UOp.const(dtypes.float, 0.0))), 0)
     np.testing.assert_allclose(eval_uop(rintk(UOp.const(dtypes.float, 5.0))), 5)
diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/transcendental.py b/tinygrad/codegen/transcendental.py
index 80e2137fe9..22702a20dc 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/transcendental.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/transcendental.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def ldexp2k(d:UOp, e:UOp) -> UOp:
   return (d * pow2if(shr(e, 1), d.dtype)) * pow2if(e - shr(e, 1), d.dtype)
 
 def frexp(v:UOp) -> Tuple[UOp, UOp]:
-  """frexp(v) -> (mantissa, exponent)"""
+  """frexp(v) -> (mantissa, exponent) assuming v != 0"""
   assert v.dtype in TRANSCENDENTAL_SUPPORTED_DTYPES
   # m1 = masks for mantissa, m2 = masks to normalize the mantissa.
   m1 = {dtypes.float64: 0x000FFFFFFFFFFFFF, dtypes.float32: 0x807FFFFF, dtypes.float16: 0x83FF}[v.dtype]
@@ -60,10 +60,6 @@ def frexp(v:UOp) -> Tuple[UOp, UOp]:
   # Set the exponent bits appropriately to normalize the mantissa into the range of [0.5, 1.0).
   mantissa = ((bits & m1) | m2).bitcast(v.dtype)
   exp = exponent - exponent_bias(v.dtype) + 1
-  # special case of 0  # TODO: can we remove this case?
-  mantissa = exponent.ne(0).where(mantissa, v)
-  exp = exponent.ne(0).where(exp, exp.const_like(0))
-  if v.dtype == dtypes.float16: exp = exp.bitcast(dtypes.int16)
   return mantissa, exp
 
 # *** reduction algorithms for sine ***