Why do we have to specifically define a branch of the complex square root function?

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If $z=re^{i\theta}$, then $\sqrt{z}=\sqrt{r}e^{i\frac{\theta}{2}}$.

Isn't this a well defined function on the whole complex plane?

Why do we need to define this as the function $\mathbb C \setminus \{x \in \mathbb R \mid x \le 0\} \to \{re^{i\theta} \mid -\pi < \theta < \pi\}$?

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5
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It's "well-defined" if you, for every $z$, pick some $\theta_z$ such that $z=|z|e^{i\theta_z}$, but the function above won't be continuous.

Let $x\in (-\infty,0)$ and consider $x+i\varepsilon$ and $x-i\varepsilon$. The square-root you seem to define of the first thing tends to $i\sqrt{|x|}$ as $\varepsilon\to 0,$ while the second one tends to $-i\sqrt{|x|}$.

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So is $\sqrt {-1}$ equal to $i$ or $-i?$