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Principal Square Root


The principal square root sqrt(z) of a complex number z is its principal root with n=2. If z=re^(itheta)!=0, where r>0 and -pi<theta<=pi, then

 sqrt(z)=sqrt(r)e^(itheta/2).

The principal square root of 0 is 0. For a nonnegative real number, this is the unique nonnegative square root. For example, the principal square root of 9 is 3, although both -3 and 3 are square roots of 9. For a negative real number x, the principal square root is isqrt(-x), where i is the imaginary unit; the other square root is -isqrt(-x).


See also

Cube Root, i, nth Root, Principal Root, Principal Root of Unity, Radical, Square Root, Surd

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References

National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Powers." §4.2(iv) in Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. https://dlmf.nist.gov/4.2#iv.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Principal Square Root

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Principal Square Root." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipalSquareRoot.html

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