The functions in the math module have the (pleasantly) surprising and
apparently undocumented property that they'll accept not just floats, but any Python object having a float method:

>>> class test1(object):
...     def __float__(self):
...             return 3. 
... 
>>> from math import sqrt
>>> sqrt(test1())
1.7320508075688772

Based on this, one might expect the functions in the complex math module cmath to have the same property with respect to __complex__.
But this isn't so:

>>> class test2(object):
...     def __complex__(self):
...             return -3 + 0j
... 
>>> from cmath import sqrt as csqrt
>>> csqrt(test2())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: a float is required

The real surprise is that the cmath functions *will* call the __float__ method, if it's available:

>>> csqrt(test1())
(1.7320508075688772+0j)

This patch expands the PyComplex_AsCComplex method so that it looks for a __complex__ method before looking for the __float__ method. This `fixes' the above behaviour.

Should it be a documented feature that the math functions will make use of __float__? If so, and if the patched behaviour seems desirable, I'll add suitable tests to test_math and test_cmath.

I think it is the right thing to do.

Test cases would be welcome.

Please include both old-style and new-style classes in the test case, and for each one test if the check for a complex return from __complex__ works.

File Added: complex_patch.patch

OK, thank you! Committed the patch, new tests and docs in rev. 54421.