diff --git a/cpp/FactorGraph-inl.h b/cpp/FactorGraph-inl.h
index 3ee00b433..1fca15477 100644
--- a/cpp/FactorGraph-inl.h
+++ b/cpp/FactorGraph-inl.h
@@ -29,10 +29,6 @@
   /*template boost::shared_ptr<F> removeAndCombineFactors(FactorGraph<F>&, const std::string&);*/ \
   template FactorGraph<F> combine(const FactorGraph<F>&, const FactorGraph<F>&);
 
-
-// trick from some reading group
-#define FOREACH_PAIR( KEY, VAL, COL) BOOST_FOREACH (boost::tie(KEY,VAL),COL)
-
 using namespace std;
 
 namespace gtsam {
@@ -340,7 +336,7 @@ PredecessorMap<Key> FactorGraph<Factor>::findMinimumSpanningTree() const {
 template<class Factor> template <class Key, class Factor2>
 void FactorGraph<Factor>::split(const PredecessorMap<Key>& tree, FactorGraph<Factor>& Ab1, FactorGraph<Factor>& Ab2) const{
 
-	BOOST_FOREACH(sharedFactor factor, factors_){
+	BOOST_FOREACH(const sharedFactor& factor, factors_){
 		if (factor->keys().size() > 2)
 			throw(invalid_argument("split: only support factors with at most two keys"));
 
diff --git a/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph-inl.h b/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph-inl.h
index 01ef0a82c..b34580ac0 100644
--- a/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph-inl.h
+++ b/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph-inl.h
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
 	template<class Config>
 	Vector NonlinearFactorGraph<Config>::unwhitenedError(const Config& c) const {
 		list<Vector> errors;
-		BOOST_FOREACH(typename NonlinearFactorGraph<Config>::sharedFactor factor, this->factors_)
+		BOOST_FOREACH(const sharedFactor& factor, this->factors_)
 			errors.push_back(factor->unwhitenedError(c));
 		return concatVectors(errors);
 	}
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
 	double NonlinearFactorGraph<Config>::error(const Config& c) const {
 		double total_error = 0.;
 		// iterate over all the factors_ to accumulate the log probabilities
-		BOOST_FOREACH(typename NonlinearFactorGraph<Config>::sharedFactor factor, this->factors_)
+		BOOST_FOREACH(const sharedFactor& factor, this->factors_)
 			total_error += factor->error(c);
 		return total_error;
 	}
@@ -49,8 +49,7 @@ namespace gtsam {
 		boost::shared_ptr<GaussianFactorGraph> linearFG(new GaussianFactorGraph);
 
 		// linearize all factors
-		typedef typename NonlinearFactorGraph<Config>::sharedFactor Factor;
-		BOOST_FOREACH(const Factor& factor, this->factors_) {
+		BOOST_FOREACH(const sharedFactor& factor, this->factors_) {
 			boost::shared_ptr<GaussianFactor> lf = factor->linearize(config);
 			linearFG->push_back(lf);
 		}
diff --git a/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph.h b/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph.h
index ddcecd459..497d31052 100644
--- a/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph.h
+++ b/cpp/NonlinearFactorGraph.h
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ namespace gtsam {
 
 	public:
 
+		typedef typename boost::shared_ptr<NonlinearFactor<Config> > sharedFactor;
+
 		/** unnormalized error */
 		double error(const Config& c) const;