Finding square roots using long division.

[Serafim]

Here goes:

def prepare(n, d):
    a = []
    m = str(n)
    int_part = ''
    dec_part = ''
    if '.' in m:
        int_part, dec_part = m.split('.')
    else:
        int_part = m
    if len(int_part) % 2 != 0:
        int_part = '0' + int_part
    for i in range(0, len(int_part), 2):
        a.append(int(int_part[i:i+2]))
    if len(dec_part) % 2 != 0:
        dec_part += '0'
    for i in range(0, len(dec_part), 2):
        a.append(int(dec_part[i:i+2]))
    min_dec = len(dec_part) // 2
    d = max (d, min_dec)
    for i in range(min_dec, d):
        a.append(0)
    return (a, d)

def normalize(s):
    if '.' in s:
        while s[-1] == '0':
            s = s[:-1]
        if s[-1] == '.':
            s = s[:-1]
    while len(s) > 1 and s[0] == '0' and s[1] != '.':
        s = s[1:]
    return s