diff --git a/src/compat.jl b/src/compat.jl
index 1f3365b73c..e95a2254a8 100644
--- a/src/compat.jl
+++ b/src/compat.jl
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ if VERSION < v"0.7-"
     @inline function _At_mul_B(A, B)
         return At_mul_B(A, B)
     end
+    expmat = expm
 else
     using SparseArrays, LinearAlgebra
     import LinearAlgebra: norm, checksquare, LAPACKException, SingularException,
@@ -22,4 +23,5 @@ else
     @inline function _At_mul_B(A, B)
         return transpose(A) * B
     end
+    expmat = exp
 end
diff --git a/test/unit_ExponentialMap.jl b/test/unit_ExponentialMap.jl
index 75a515b7ee..ce529a4a56 100644
--- a/test/unit_ExponentialMap.jl
+++ b/test/unit_ExponentialMap.jl
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ for N in [Float64, Float32]
     σ(sparsevec(d), emap)
 
     # check consistency with respect to explicit computation of the matrix exponential
-    svec_explicit = σ(d, expm(Matrix(m)) * b)
+    svec_explicit = σ(d, expmat(Matrix(m)) * b)
     if N == Float64
         # precision with Float32 is not sufficient
         @test svec ≈ svec_explicit
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ for N in [Float64, Float32]
     σ(sparsevec(d), projmap)
 
     # check consistency with respect to explicit computation of the matrix exponential
-    P = L * expm(Matrix(m)) * R
+    P = L * expmat(Matrix(m)) * R
     svec_explicit = σ(d, P*b)
     @test svec ≈ svec_explicit
 end