Python Math Module

Python provides a built-in math module which provides a set of mathematical functions. These functions are not readily available in Python's global namespace and can be accessed only after importing the math module.

Syntax

To use the functions provided by the math module, you need to import the math module first using the following statement.

import math

To call a function from the math module, use the dot notation:

math.function_name()

Example

import math

# finding square root of a number
print(math.sqrt(25))

# angle in radians
print(math.radians(30))

# sine of 60 degrees
print(math.sin(math.radians(60)))

Output

5.0
0.5235987755982988
0.8660254037844386

Explanation

• math.sqrt() - returns the square root of the specified number.
• math.radians() - converts the angle from degrees to radians before passing it to trigonometric functions such as sin(), cos(), etc.
• math.sin() - returns the sine of the angle passed in radians.

Use

The math module is useful in mathematical calculations involved in various fields such as statistics, physics, and engineering. It provides more precise and accurate results as compared to the Python's built-in arithmetic operators.

Important Points

• All functions in the math module accept only numeric arguments and return numeric values.
• Some of the most commonly used functions include sqrt(), sin(), cos(), tan(), log(), exp(), ceil(), floor(), etc.
• Before using the math module, ensure that you have imported it using the statement import math.
• If you try to use a function without importing the math module, Python will raise a NameError.

Summary

In this tutorial, we learned about the math module in Python. It provides a set of mathematical functions that are not available in Python's global namespace. We learned how to import the module, call different functions, and also saw examples of some commonly used functions.