Methods of Computing Square Roots - Negative or Complex Square

Negative or Complex Square

If S < 0, then its principal square root is

If S = a+bi where a and b are real and b ≠ 0, then its principal square root is

This can be verified by squaring the root. Here

is the modulus of S. The principal square root of a complex number is defined to be the root with the non-negative real part.

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