How to Find Perfect Squares in a List in Python

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to find perfect squares in a list using Python – a common task in algorithm studies and number theory.

In Python, this can be easily achieved by iterating through the list and using a built-in function to determine if a number is a perfect square. In just a few simple steps, we’ll develop a Python program to identify perfect squares.

Step 1: Understand What a Perfect Square Is

A perfect square is a number that can be expressed as the product of an integer with itself. For instance, the number 4 is a perfect square because it can be obtained by multiplying 2 by 2.

Step 2: Initialize Your List

First, you need to create or initialize your list in Python. A list in Python is a collection of items that can be of mixed types. They are mutable and can be indexed and sliced.

1	numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Step 3: Create the Function to Find Perfect Squares

Next, create a function to determine if a number in the list is a perfect square. To do this, you would use the built-in Python math library function isqrt(). This function returns the integer square root of a number. Then compare the square of this root with the original number, if it’s identical, the number is a perfect square!

import math

def is_perfect_square(n):

root = math.isqrt(n)

return root*root == n

Step 4: Iterate Over the List

Once the function is defined, now iterate over the list using a for loop to check each number. If a number is a perfect square, append it to a new list.

perfect_squares = []

for num in numbers:

if is_perfect_square(num):

perfect_squares.append(num)

Step 5: Print Out the Perfect Squares

The last step is to print out your list of perfect squares:

1	print(perfect_squares)

The Full Code

import math

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]