Python abs() Method - Python Library Function

In Python there are many built-in functions and abs() method is one of them. The main purpose of this function is to return the absolute value of the number(variable) passed as argument to it.

This is a detailed post on abs() method that touches every aspect of it.

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Syntax of abs() method:

The abs() method takes only one argument and hence the syntax is pretty simple,

# X can be an integer or a float or a complex number
abs(X)

If, X (the argument) is an Integer or Float then the method will return the absolute value in Integer or Float

else if X is a Complex Number then the method will return the magnitude of that complex number.

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What is an Absolute value?

The absolute value for a given number is the numerical value of that number without considering whether the sign of the number is positive (+ve) or negative (-ve ).

Simply put, an absolute number is always a positive(+ve) number.

For complex numbers, the absolute value is their magnitude.

Example for Integer:

The absolute value of -5 is 5.

Example for Float:

The absolute value of -5.5 is 5.5

Example for Complex Numbers:

The absolute value of 3+4j is 5.0

Lets see, how to find the magnitude of a complex number,

The magnitude of complex number a+bj is sqrt( a^2 + b^2 ).

For example: The magnitude of 3+4j is sqrt( 3^2 + 4^2 ) = sqrt( 9 + 16 ) = sqrt(25) = 5

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Python Program using abs() Function

Below we have a simple program where we have used the abs() method,

Pheww! This is it. I hope that you enjoyed the post and learned about the implementation of abs() built-in function available in Python Standard Language. If you feel that this post is useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues.

Thanks for reading it till the end.