new to python and programming at large

[Ulrich Eckhardt]

Am 09.01.2013 22:05, schrieb kwakukwatiah at gmail.com:
> pls  I want to write a function that can compute for the sqrt root of
> any number.bt it not working pls help.

Whenever describing an error, be precise. In this particular case, we 
have some sourcecode (which is good!) but what is still missing is what 
exactly you see when running that code (output and error messages) and 
what you expected instead.


> from math import sqrt
> def squareroot(self):
>      x = sqrt(y)
>      print x

In this very case, I also wonder if the tutorial you are learning from 
assumes Python 2 while you are using Python 3. This is important, 
because "print" is a special statement in Python 2 but a normal function 
in Python 3.

That said, I see two errors here:
1. "self": This is customary used when you have a class function that 
takes an instance of that class. This instance is then the first 
parameter and called "self". Python doesn't enforce this, but you should 
adhere to this convention to avoid confusion. Since you are not writing 
a class, don't name this parameter "self".
2. There is no "y" in that code. I guess that if you renamed your "self" 
to "y", you would get what you wanted.

Good luck and welcome to Python!

Uli