diff --git a/pymbolic/primitives.py b/pymbolic/primitives.py
index 018cbaae75ac93009fbb62901df9baf7b8ce653a..5855f5d7158d1dc4883981ca1a7990d9bbbb528b 100644
--- a/pymbolic/primitives.py
+++ b/pymbolic/primitives.py
@@ -1700,14 +1700,23 @@ def make_sym_vector(name, components, var_factory=None):
     """Return an object array of *components* subscripted
     :class:`Variable` (or subclass) instances.
 
-    :arg components: The number of components in the vector.
-    :arg var_factory: The :class:`Variable` subclass to use for instantiating
-        the scalar variables.
+    :arg components: Either a list of indices, or an integer representing the
+        number of indices.
+    :arg var_factory: The :class:`Variable` subclass to
+        use for instantiating the scalar variables.
+
+    For example, this creates a vector with three components::
+
+        >>> make_sym_vector("vec", 3)
+        array([Subscript(Variable('vec'), 0), Subscript(Variable('vec'), 1),
+               Subscript(Variable('vec'), 2)], dtype=object)
+
     """
     if var_factory is None:
         var_factory = Variable
 
-    if isinstance(components, int):
+    from numbers import Integral
+    if isinstance(components, Integral):
         components = list(range(components))
 
     from pytools.obj_array import join_fields
diff --git a/test/test_pymbolic.py b/test/test_pymbolic.py
index 2cc3c82738d5a34c28b7f3ff61b1351cb7e0d581..4b358ab9f95e9702459cb5942e6935ccf6590549 100644
--- a/test/test_pymbolic.py
+++ b/test/test_pymbolic.py
@@ -574,6 +574,15 @@ def test_flop_counter():
     assert CSEAwareFlopCounter()(expr) == 4 + 2
 
 
+def test_make_sym_vector():
+    numpy = pytest.importorskip("numpy")
+    from pymbolic.primitives import make_sym_vector
+
+    assert len(make_sym_vector("vec", 2)) == 2
+    assert len(make_sym_vector("vec", numpy.int32(2))) == 2
+    assert len(make_sym_vector("vec", [1, 2, 3])) == 3
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys
     if len(sys.argv) > 1: