diff --git a/prism/src/prism/PrismUtils.java b/prism/src/prism/PrismUtils.java
index 1afde7cd..28f5e751 100644
--- a/prism/src/prism/PrismUtils.java
+++ b/prism/src/prism/PrismUtils.java
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ public class PrismUtils
 		return Math.log(x) / Math.log(2);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Compute the number of bits needed to encode n different values.
+	 */
+	public static int bitsForEncoding(int n)
+	{
+		return (int) Math.ceil(PrismUtils.log2(n));
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * See if two doubles are within epsilon of each other (absolute error).
 	 */