diff --git a/gtsam/base/Matrix.h b/gtsam/base/Matrix.h
index e113e4cf1..6902a4a88 100644
--- a/gtsam/base/Matrix.h
+++ b/gtsam/base/Matrix.h
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ std::pair<Matrix,Matrix> qr(const Matrix& A);
  * @param clear_below_diagonal enables zeroing out below diagonal
  */
 template <class MATRIX>
-void inplace_QR(MATRIX& A, bool clear_below_diagonal=true) {
+void inplace_QR(MATRIX& A) {
 	size_t rows = A.rows();
 	size_t cols = A.cols();
 	size_t size = std::min(rows,cols);
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/NoiseModel.cpp b/gtsam/linear/NoiseModel.cpp
index 6d231748e..db6fa096d 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/NoiseModel.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/linear/NoiseModel.cpp
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ SharedDiagonal Gaussian::QR(Matrix& Ab) const {
 	if(debug) gtsam::print(Ab, "Whitened Ab: ");
 
 	// Eigen QR - much faster than older householder approach
-	inplace_QR(Ab, false);
+	inplace_QR(Ab);
 
 	// hand-coded householder implementation
 	// TODO: necessary to isolate last column?