Square root any nonnegative number, then the principal square root of −"x" is The right side (as well as its negative) is indeed a square root of −"x", since For every non-zero complex number "z" there exist precisely two numbers "w" such that : the principal square root of "z" (defined below), and its negative. There are two complex numbers that square to a given arbitrary non-zero imaginary number formula_11 with real formula_12 where the two-digit pattern {3, 6} repeats over and over again in the partial denominators. Since , the above is also identical to the following generalized continued fractions: The
Square root of a matrix above observation, that a positive-definite matrix has precisely one positive-definite square root: a positive definite matrix has only positive eigenvalues, and each of these eigenvalues has only one positive square root; and since the eigenvalues of the square root matrix are the diagonal elements of , for the square root matrix to be itself positive definite necessitates the use of only the unique positive square roots of the original eigenvalues. Just as with the real numbers, a real matrix may fail to have a real square root, but have a square root with complex-valued entries. Some matrices have "no square