diff --git a/drivers/staging/android/binder.c b/drivers/staging/android/binder.c
index 179b21b66504..9311bb67ec35 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/android/binder.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/android/binder.c
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ static void binder_set_nice(long nice)
 		set_user_nice(current, nice);
 		return;
 	}
-	min_nice = 20 - current->signal->rlim[RLIMIT_NICE].rlim_cur;
+	min_nice = rlimit_to_nice(current->signal->rlim[RLIMIT_NICE].rlim_cur);
 	binder_debug(BINDER_DEBUG_PRIORITY_CAP,
 		     "%d: nice value %ld not allowed use %ld instead\n",
 		      current->pid, nice, min_nice);
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/prio.h b/include/linux/sched/prio.h
index ac322583c820..d9cf5a5762d9 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/prio.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/prio.h
@@ -41,4 +41,20 @@
 #define TASK_USER_PRIO(p)	USER_PRIO((p)->static_prio)
 #define MAX_USER_PRIO		(USER_PRIO(MAX_PRIO))
 
+/*
+ * Convert nice value [19,-20] to rlimit style value [1,40].
+ */
+static inline long nice_to_rlimit(long nice)
+{
+	return (MAX_NICE - nice + 1);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Convert rlimit style value [1,40] to nice value [-20, 19].
+ */
+static inline long rlimit_to_nice(long prio)
+{
+	return (MAX_NICE - prio + 1);
+}
+
 #endif /* _SCHED_PRIO_H */
diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
index da302ca98f60..321d800e4baa 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/core.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
@@ -3033,7 +3033,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(set_user_nice);
 int can_nice(const struct task_struct *p, const int nice)
 {
 	/* convert nice value [19,-20] to rlimit style value [1,40] */
-	int nice_rlim = 20 - nice;
+	int nice_rlim = nice_to_rlimit(nice);
 
 	return (nice_rlim <= task_rlimit(p, RLIMIT_NICE) ||
 		capable(CAP_SYS_NICE));
diff --git a/kernel/sys.c b/kernel/sys.c
index fba0f29401ea..66a751ebf9d9 100644
--- a/kernel/sys.c
+++ b/kernel/sys.c
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(getpriority, int, which, int, who)
 			else
 				p = current;
 			if (p) {
-				niceval = 20 - task_nice(p);
+				niceval = nice_to_rlimit(task_nice(p));
 				if (niceval > retval)
 					retval = niceval;
 			}
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(getpriority, int, which, int, who)
 			else
 				pgrp = task_pgrp(current);
 			do_each_pid_thread(pgrp, PIDTYPE_PGID, p) {
-				niceval = 20 - task_nice(p);
+				niceval = nice_to_rlimit(task_nice(p));
 				if (niceval > retval)
 					retval = niceval;
 			} while_each_pid_thread(pgrp, PIDTYPE_PGID, p);
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(getpriority, int, which, int, who)
 
 			do_each_thread(g, p) {
 				if (uid_eq(task_uid(p), uid)) {
-					niceval = 20 - task_nice(p);
+					niceval = nice_to_rlimit(task_nice(p));
 					if (niceval > retval)
 						retval = niceval;
 				}