Week 1 • Wednesday

Block 6: Modules & the math Library

Import and use standard library modules, starting with math.

Concepts

import module and import module as alias
math.sqrt, math.pi, math.ceil, math.floor
math.log, math.pow
Using help() and dir() to explore modules

Code Examples

math module basics

import math
print(math.pi)
print(math.sqrt(16))
print(math.pow(2, 10))

Exploring with help() and dir()

import math
print(dir(math)[:5])  # First 5 attributes
# help(math.sqrt)  # Uncomment to see docs

Exercise

Write circle_area(r) and sphere_volume(r) using math.pi. Compute the hypotenuse of a right triangle with sides 3 and 4.

Solution

import math

def circle_area(r):
    return math.pi * r ** 2

def sphere_volume(r):
    return (4/3) * math.pi * r ** 3

a, b = 3, 4
hyp = math.sqrt(a**2 + b**2)
print(f'Circle area (r=5): {circle_area(5):.2f}')
print(f'Sphere volume (r=2): {sphere_volume(2):.2f}')
print(f'Hypotenuse: {hyp}')

Practice Problems

Problem 1: Use math.ceil and math.floor to round 3.7 up and down.

Hint: math.ceil(3.7), math.floor(3.7)

Problem 2: Compute log base 10 of 1000 using math.log

Hint: math.log(1000, 10)

Application

Scientific computing relies heavily on math—logarithms for scaling, sqrt for distances, pi for geometry.

Case Study

A physics simulation uses math.sin, math.cos for projectile motion. math.sqrt appears in distance calculations for collision detection.

Homework

Explore the random module: generate 5 random integers between 1 and 10.