diff --git a/8.4-generating-images-with-vaes.ipynb b/8.4-generating-images-with-vaes.ipynb
index 26755fb116..b6a945326e 100644
--- a/8.4-generating-images-with-vaes.ipynb
+++ b/8.4-generating-images-with-vaes.ipynb
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
     "    z_mean, z_log_var = args\n",
     "    epsilon = K.random_normal(shape=(K.shape(z_mean)[0], latent_dim),\n",
     "                              mean=0., stddev=1.)\n",
-    "    return z_mean + K.exp(z_log_var) * epsilon\n",
+    "    return z_mean + K.exp(0.5 * z_log_var) * epsilon\n",
     "\n",
     "z = layers.Lambda(sampling)([z_mean, z_log_var])"
    ]