Square a list (or array?) of numbers in Python
<p>I'm coming from a MATLAB background and this simple operation so far seems to be extremely complicated to implement in Python, according to the answers in other stacks. Typically, most answers use a for loop.</p>

<p>The best I've seen so far is </p>

<pre><code>import numpy
start_list = [5, 3, 1, 2, 4]
b = list(numpy.array(start_list)**2)
</code></pre>

<p>Is there a simpler way? </p>