diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 889b8dc308..fef160e692 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def cleanpypath(path):
 def assert_np_version():
     low = (1, 8, 0)
     v = np.version.short_version
-    cur = tuple(map(int, v.split('.')))
+    cur = tuple(map(int, v.split('.')[:2]))
     if cur < low:
         msg = "numpy version too low! {0} (have) < 1.8.0 (min)".format(v)
         raise ValueError(msg)