diff --git a/doc/minimize.html b/doc/minimize.html
index 57eda0c1fa..9533283999 100644
--- a/doc/minimize.html
+++ b/doc/minimize.html
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ we've tried.  The backtracking method is described in Nocedal and
 Wright's Numerical Optimization (Procedure 3.1 on p 41).
 </P>
 <P>The objective function being minimized is the potential energy of the
-system as a function of atom coordinates:
+system as a function of the N atom coordinates:
 </P>
 <CENTER><IMG SRC = "Eqs/min_energy.jpg">
 </CENTER>
diff --git a/doc/minimize.txt b/doc/minimize.txt
index 1191d28160..85adf9df88 100644
--- a/doc/minimize.txt
+++ b/doc/minimize.txt
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ we've tried.  The backtracking method is described in Nocedal and
 Wright's Numerical Optimization (Procedure 3.1 on p 41).
 
 The objective function being minimized is the potential energy of the
-system as a function of atom coordinates:
+system as a function of the N atom coordinates:
 
 :c,image(Eqs/min_energy.jpg)