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 root". An example is the matrix formula_11. In general, a complex matrix with positive real eigenvalues has a unique square root with positive eigenvalues called the "principal square root". Moreover, the operation of taking the principal square root is continuous on this set of matrices. If the matrix has real entries, then the square root also has real entries. These properties are consequences of the holomorphic functional calculus applied to matrices. The existence and uniqueness of the principal square root can be deduced directly from the Jordan normal form (see below). For a 2 × 2 matrix, there are explicit