Python – Maximum difference across lists

Given two lists, the task is to write a Python program to find maximum difference among like index elements. 

Examples:

Input : test_list1 = [3, 4, 2, 1, 7], test_list2 = [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]

Output : 8

Explanation : 9 – 1 = 8 is maximum difference across lists in same index.

Input : test_list1 = [3, 4, 2, 1, 17], test_list2 = [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]

Output : 16

Explanation : 17 – 1 = 16 is maximum difference across lists in same index.

Method 1 : Using list comprehension + max()

In this, difference is computed using abs() and iteration is done using list comprehension. The max() is used for the task of getting maximum difference among computed sub result.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Maximum difference across lists
# Using list comprehension + max()

# initializing lists
test_list1 = [3, 4, 2, 1, 7]
test_list2 = [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]

# printing original lists
print("The original list 1 is : " + str(test_list1))
print("The original list 2 is : " + str(test_list2))

# using max() to get maximum of extracted difference
res = max(abs(test_list2[idx] - test_list1[idx])
          for idx in range(0, len(test_list1) - 1))

# printing result
print("Maximum difference among lists : " + str(res))

Output:

The original list 1 is : [3, 4, 2, 1, 7]
The original list 2 is : [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]
Maximum difference among lists : 8

Method 2 : Using zip() + max()

In this pairing of like index elements is done using zip(). Rest all the functionality is similar to above method.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Maximum difference across lists
# Using zip() + max()

# initializing lists
test_list1 = [3, 4, 2, 1, 7]
test_list2 = [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]

# printing original lists
print("The original list 1 is : " + str(test_list1))
print("The original list 2 is : " + str(test_list2))

# using max() to get maximum of extracted difference
# zip() used to bind elements
res = max(abs(ele1 - ele2) for ele1, ele2 in zip(test_list1, test_list2))

# printing result
print("Maximum difference among lists : " + str(res))

Output:

The original list 1 is : [3, 4, 2, 1, 7]
The original list 2 is : [6, 2, 1, 9, 1]
Maximum difference among lists : 8