diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
index b93155255..cfa435b3e 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/hints.py
@@ -454,21 +454,13 @@ class HintManager(QObject):
         # Determine how many digits the link hints will require in the worst
         # case. Usually we do not need all of these digits for every link
         # single hint, so we can show shorter hints for a few of the links.
-        needed = max(min_chars, math.ceil(math.log(len(elems), len(chars))))
+        needed = max(min_chars, math.ceil(
+            math.log(len(elems), len(chars))-1e-13))
         # Short hints are the number of hints we can possibly show which are
         # (needed - 1) digits in length.
-        if needed > min_chars:
+        if needed > min_chars and needed > 1:
             total_space = len(chars) ** needed
-            # Calculate short_count naively, by finding the avaiable space and
-            # dividing by the number of spots we would loose by adding a
-            # short element
-            short_count = math.floor((total_space - len(elems)) /
-                                     len(chars))
-            # Check if we double counted above to warrant another short_count
-            # https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/3242
-            if total_space - (short_count * len(chars) +
-                              (len(elems) - short_count)) >= len(chars) - 1:
-                short_count += 1
+            short_count = (total_space - len(elems)) // (len(chars) - 1)
         else:
             short_count = 0