Sets.md

Sets

Sets are unordered collections of unique elements. They provide a convenient way to work with distinct values and perform set operations.

Creating and Accessing Sets:

Sets are created by enclosing comma-separated values in curly braces {} or by using the set() function. Let's look at some examples:

# Creating sets
set1 = {1, 2, 3}
set2 = set([3, 4, 5])

In the first example, we create a set called set1 using curly braces. In the second example, we create a set called set2 using the set() function.

Sets do not maintain the order of elements, and they only contain unique values. Duplicate values are automatically eliminated:

# Accessing set elements
print(set1)  # Output: {1, 2, 3}
print(set2)  # Output: {3, 4, 5}

In this example, we print the contents of set1 and set2 to observe the unique elements in each set.

Set Operations: Union, Intersection, and Difference:

Sets provide several useful operations for working with collections of unique elements. Let's explore three common set operations:

• Union (|): Combines elements from multiple sets, excluding duplicates.

# Union of sets
set1 = {1, 2, 3}
set2 = {3, 4, 5}
union_set = set1 | set2
print(union_set)  # Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

In this example, we use the | operator to perform the union of set1 and set2, resulting in a new set union_set containing all the unique elements from both sets.

• Intersection (&): Finds common elements between multiple sets.

# Intersection of sets
set1 = {1, 2, 3}
set2 = {3, 4, 5}
intersection_set = set1 & set2
print(intersection_set)  # Output: {3}

In this example, we use the & operator to find the common elements between set1 and set2, resulting in a new set intersection_set containing the element 3, which is present in both sets.

• Difference (-): Finds the elements in one set that are not present in another set.

# Difference of sets
set1 = {1, 2, 3}
set2 = {3, 4, 5}
difference_set = set1 - set2
print(difference_set)  # Output: {1, 2}

In this example, we use the - operator to find the elements in set1 that are not present in set2, resulting in a new set difference_set containing the elements 1 and 2.