The below article demonstrates different ways to find the Square Root of a Number using Python programming language.

In Python programming, there are various predefined methods to calculate the square root of a number. And in this article, we will discuss 4 different ways to find the square root of positive, negative, real as well as complex numbers. So, without further ado, let’s begin!

Also Read: Introduction to Python – Features, Use Cases, Resources, and Applications

We will be covering the following sections today:

• What is a Square Root?
• Methods to Find Square Root of a Number in Python 
  • Using math module – sqrt()
  • Using math module – pow()
  • Using arithmetic operator – exponent 
  • Using cmath module – sqrt()

What is a Square Root?

The square root is a factor of a number that, when multiplied by itself, returns the number itself. For example, the square root of 49 is 7, because 7 x 7 = 49. Similarly, 3 is a square root of 9, since 3 x 3 = 9. Also, it is interesting to note that -3 x -3 = 9 as well, so -3 is also a square root of 9!

Methods to Find Square Root of a Number in Python 

Using math module – sqrt()

We have an in-built square root function in the Python math library, called sqrt(), that directly returns the square root of any number when applied to it:

#Import the math library 
import math 
 
#Print the square root of 36
print("Square root of 36 is: ", math.sqrt(36)) 
 
#Print the square root of 6
print("Square root of 6 is: ",math.sqrt(6)) 
 
#Print the square root of 1.5
print("Square root of 1.5 is: ",math.sqrt(1.5)) 

Output:

We can also take input from the user and display its square root. The number can be an integer as well as a float value: 

#Import the math library 
import math 
 
#Enter input
num = float(input("Enter numeric value : "))
 
squareRoot = math.sqrt(num)
print("The Square Root of {0} is: {1}".format(num, squareRoot))

Output:

Using math module – pow()

We have another in-built function in the Python math library that can be used to find the square root of a number – the pow() method.

It takes 2 arguments as input – the number and the power of that number. We can use it to find the square root of a number by applying a power of 0.5 to it, as shown:

#Import the math library 
import math 
 
#Enter input
num = float(input("Enter numeric value : "))
 
squareRoot = math.pow(num, 0.5)
print("The Square Root of {0} is: {1}".format(num, squareRoot))

Output 1:

Output 2:

Using arithmetic operator – exponent

On the same lines as the previous method, we can find the square root of a number by simply exponentiating it to the power of 0.5 using the exponent (**) operator, as shown:

#Import the math library 
import math 
 
#Enter input
num = float(input("Enter numeric value : "))
 
squareRoot = num ** 0.5
print("The Square Root of {0} is: {1}".format(num, squareRoot))

Output:

Using cmath module – sqrt()

In this method, we use the sqrt() function of the cmath module to calculate the square root of a real or complex number in Python. this method is specifically used for negative or complex numbers:

#Import the cmath library 
import cmath 
 
#Enter input
num = eval(input("Enter numeric value : "))
 
squareRoot = cmath.sqrt(num)
print("The Square Root of {0} is: {1}".format(num, squareRoot))
 

Output 1:

Output 2:

Endnotes

With this, we have come to the end of our article. Hope this was helpful for you to understand how to find the square root of a number using different methods in Python. Want to learn more about Python and practice Python programming? Explore related articles here.