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What is a set?

A set stores unique elements.

What is a set?

A set is a data structure that stores unique elements. An element is either in the set or not; there is no ordering.

Add, remove and search in a set are average O(1). Duplicates are automatically eliminated: the same element cannot be added twice.

Add and search

Elements are added to a set with add(item). contains(item) checks whether an element is in the set.

A set uses a hash table to provide O(1) average access. If the element already exists, add does nothing.

Practice Add to set

Write set_add(s, item). Add item to s, return s. Print {1, 2, 3} with print(set_add({1, 2}, 3)).

Starter code

solution.py
def set_add(s, item):
    # Add

Sample solution

solution.py
def set_add(s, item):
    # Add
    s.add(item)
    return s
print(sorted(set_add({1, 2}, 3)))

Expected output

[1, 2, 3]

Questions and answers

Review the lesson questions together with their answers. To test yourself, solve the lesson interactively.

1 What property does a set have?

  • Fixed size
  • Unique elements Correct answer
  • Ordered
  • Duplicate elements

Explanation: A set has unique elements.

2 Add

Question 
Adding to a set is done with ____.
Answer 
Adding to a set is done with add.

Explanation: add is right.

3 What is a set: match the terms

Term Meaning
set Unique
add Add
contains Exists
O(1) Average

All lessons in Beginner

1 What is an algorithm?

  1. Algorithm definition
  2. Algorithm properties
  3. Pseudocode
  4. Summary - Algorithm concept

2 Big-O notation

  1. Time complexity
  2. Big-O definition
  3. Comparing complexities
  4. Summary - Big-O

3 Array

  1. What is an array?
  2. Array access
  3. Looping over an array
  4. Summary - Arrays

4 Linear search

  1. Linear search idea
  2. Implementing search
  3. Best and worst case
  4. Summary - Linear search

5 Search project

  1. Project: Overview
  2. Grades array setup
  3. Search function
  4. Print the result

6 Bubble sort

  1. Bubble sort idea
  2. One pass
  3. Full sort
  4. Summary - Bubble sort

7 Selection sort

  1. Selection sort idea
  2. Finding the minimum
  3. Swapping
  4. Summary - Selection sort

8 Insertion sort

  1. Insertion sort idea
  2. Shifting
  3. Placement
  4. Summary - Insertion sort

9 Sorting project

  1. Project: Overview
  2. Price array
  3. Apply sorting
  4. Print the result

10 Recursion basics

  1. What is recursion?
  2. Base case
  3. Recursive step
  4. Summary - Recursion

11 Fibonacci

  1. Fibonacci sequence
  2. Recursive Fibonacci
  3. Call tree
  4. Summary - Fibonacci

12 Factorial

  1. Factorial definition
  2. Recursive factorial
  3. Choosing the base case
  4. Summary - Factorial

13 Recursion project

  1. Project: Overview
  2. Recursive power
  3. Combination
  4. Print the results

14 Binary search

  1. Binary search idea
  2. Left right pointers
  3. Base case
  4. Summary - Binary search

15 Linked list

  1. What is a linked list?
  2. Node definition
  3. Traversing the list
  4. Summary - Linked list

16 Stack

  1. What is a stack?
  2. Push and pop
  3. Peek and is_empty
  4. Summary - Stack

17 Queue

  1. What is a queue?
  2. Enqueue and dequeue
  3. Front and back
  4. Summary - Queue

18 Hash table

  1. What is a hash table?
  2. Hash function
  3. Collision
  4. Summary - Hash table

19 Set

  1. What is a set?
  2. Add and lookup
  3. Intersection and union
  4. Summary - Set

20 Beginner final

  1. Challenge 1
  2. Challenge 2
  3. Challenge 3
  4. Challenge 4