Statement
Solution
Python Exercise 5.3: Common Students
Find intersection and symmetric difference between two sets of names.
Your program should:
- Take two sets of student names (one for math class, one for science class).
- Find students who are in both classes (intersection).
- Find students who are in exactly one class (symmetric difference).
- Print the results clearly.
Sample Interaction:
Input
Output
Alice,Bob,Charlie
Bob,Charlie,David
Students in both classes: {'Bob', 'Charlie'}
Students in exactly one class: {'Alice', 'David'}
Solution
Here is one way to find common and unique students using sets.
# Get input as comma-separated strings
math_students = input("Enter math students (comma-separated): ").split(',')
science_students = input("Enter science students (comma-separated): ").split(',')
# Convert to sets and strip whitespace
math_set = {name.strip() for name in math_students}
science_set = {name.strip() for name in science_students}
# Find intersection (students in both)
both = math_set & science_set
# Find symmetric difference (students in exactly one)
one_only = math_set ^ science_set
# Print results
print(f"Students in both classes: {both}")
print(f"Students in exactly one class: {one_only}")
Key Concepts:
setautomatically removes duplicates and allows set operations.&operator finds intersection (common elements).^operator finds symmetric difference (elements in one but not both).- Set comprehensions can be used to process input lists.
Test Console
Run code to see output...
