Square root by hand

Problem

Write a function that takes a whole number greater than 0 and returns its square root: the number that multiplied by itself gives that number. The root of 25 is 5, because 5 times 5 is 25.

The number you get is always a perfect square, so the root is always a whole number. You do not have to think about what happens with 10.

You cannot use the square root the language already brings (math.sqrt, Math.sqrt, ** 0.5): the whole point is to look for it yourself.

Idea: try candidates with a while. Start at 1 and go up one by one while the candidate times itself still falls short. The first one that reaches is the answer.

Examples

• Four

  4 → 2

• The example

  25 → 5

• Three digits

  196 → 14

Besides these, the challenge has hidden tests that are revealed when you submit your solution.

You start with this

def square_root(n):
    pass

function squareRoot(n) {
}