diff --git a/numpy/core/code_generators/generate_umath.py b/numpy/core/code_generators/generate_umath.py
index e79cdd4a606c..d44cabe7251b 100644
--- a/numpy/core/code_generators/generate_umath.py
+++ b/numpy/core/code_generators/generate_umath.py
@@ -696,6 +696,7 @@ def english_upper(s):
     Ufunc(1, 1, None,
           docstrings.get('numpy.core.umath.sqrt'),
           None,
+          TD('e', f='sqrt', astype={'e':'f'}),
           TD(inexactvec),
           TD(inexact, f='sqrt', astype={'e':'f'}),
           TD(P, f='sqrt'),
diff --git a/numpy/core/src/umath/scalarmath.c.src b/numpy/core/src/umath/scalarmath.c.src
index c651383eb17f..32a77b6e9e4a 100644
--- a/numpy/core/src/umath/scalarmath.c.src
+++ b/numpy/core/src/umath/scalarmath.c.src
@@ -1703,9 +1703,10 @@ get_functions(PyObject * mm)
      * generate_umath.py, the first to go into FLOAT/DOUBLE_sqrt
      * they have the same signature as the scalar variants so we need to skip
      * over them
+     * also skip float16 copy placed before
      */
-    i = 4;
-    j = 2;
+    i = 6;
+    j = 3;
     while (signatures[i] != NPY_FLOAT) {
         i += 2; j++;
     }
diff --git a/numpy/linalg/tests/test_linalg.py b/numpy/linalg/tests/test_linalg.py
index 60486d4cec19..a89378acd929 100644
--- a/numpy/linalg/tests/test_linalg.py
+++ b/numpy/linalg/tests/test_linalg.py
@@ -877,11 +877,11 @@ def test_vector_return_type(self):
 
             an = norm(at, 2)
             assert_(issubclass(an.dtype.type, np.floating))
-            assert_almost_equal(an, 2.0**(1.0/2.0))
+            assert_almost_equal(an, an.dtype.type(2.0)**an.dtype.type(1.0/2.0))
 
             an = norm(at, 4)
             assert_(issubclass(an.dtype.type, np.floating))
-            assert_almost_equal(an, 2.0**(1.0/4.0))
+            assert_almost_equal(an, an.dtype.type(2.0)**an.dtype.type(1.0/4.0))
 
             an = norm(at, np.inf)
             assert_(issubclass(an.dtype.type, np.floating))