Question

By using the same ______ for multiple arrays, you can build relationships between the data stored in the arrays. These arrays are referred to as parallel arrays.

Short answer

Answer: Parallel arrays are two or more arrays that are used together, with each array having the same size and corresponding elements that are associated with each other. They allow you to store related data in separate arrays but still easily access the related information using the same index across all the arrays. They are useful for organizing information in a structured and easy-to-understand manner and are memory-efficient. However, they can become difficult to maintain if the number of related arrays increases, in which case other data structures like dictionaries or classes may be more appropriate.

Step-by-step solution

Understand Parallel Arrays

Parallel arrays are two or more arrays that are used together, with each array having the same size and corresponding elements that are associated with each other. They allow you to store related data in separate arrays, but still easily access the related information by using the same index across all of the arrays.

Learn to Create Parallel Arrays

To create parallel arrays, you need to declare multiple arrays of the same size. Then, fill them with corresponding data so that the relationships between the data can be established. For example, if you have a list of students and their respective grades, you can create two parallel arrays to store this information.

Example of Parallel Arrays

Let's consider an example to illustrate the use of parallel arrays. Assume that we have a list of 5 students and their corresponding grades: Students: Alice, Bob, Caroline, David, Emma Grades: 85, 90, 78, 92, 88 We can create two parallel arrays to store this information as follows: students = ["Alice", "Bob", "Caroline", "David", "Emma"] grades = [85, 90, 78, 92, 88] Now, we can use the same index to access both the student's name and their respective grade in the arrays. For example, to access Caroline's grade, we would use the index 2: caroline_grade = grades[2] print("Caroline's grade:", caroline_grade) This would output: Caroline's grade: 78

Benefits of Using Parallel Arrays

Parallel arrays allow us to easily maintain relationships between data stored in separate arrays, which is helpful for organizing information in a structured and easy-to-understand manner. They are memory-efficient, and you can perform operations on the related data by using the same index across all the arrays. However, one should keep in mind that parallel arrays can become difficult to maintain if the number of related arrays increases. In such cases, using other data structures like dictionaries or classes may be more appropriate.