Suppose I have two sets with integral elements A = {a_1, a_2, ... , a_n} and B = {b_1, b_2, ... , b_m}, the cardinalities of which are arbitrarily large, and a_n > a_{n - 1} > a_{n - 2} > ... > a_1 and b_m > b_{m - 1} > b_{m - 2} > ... > b_1 with n ≠ m. Suppose, also, that the intersetion of sets A and B is the singleton set {c}, and there exists an index i such that b_{i + 1} > a_n > b_i > b_{i - 1} > ... > b_1 where a_n = sup(A).
I want to create a for-loop iteration (or whatever the best approach might be!) that finds the set intersection without generating all the elements of both sets and then determining the set {c}. (This is possible because the generating functions I've created yield explicit formulas I can use to calculate specific elements of both sets.)
I wrote some basic code in Sagemath to calculate elementary set intersection, but for even moderately large cardinalities, the halt time was incredibly long. I'm thinking the following approach might be faster, but I don't know how to write the program using for-/while-loops and if/else constructions (or even if I should do so):
(1) Check if a_{n - 1} ≤ b_i. If a_{n - 1} > b_i, keep checking conterminous decreasing indices for elements of A (i.e., a_{n - 2}, a_{n - 3}, etc.) until a_j ≤ b_i for some index j < n - 1. If a_j = b_i, break and print(a_j). If not, go to step (2).
(2) When a_j < b_i, check conterminous decreasing indices for elements of B (i.e., b_{i - 1}, b_{i - 2}, etc.) until a_j ≥ b_k for some index k < i. If a_j = b_k, break and print(b_k). If not, go to step (3).
(3) Repeat the process in steps (1) and (2) until a_r = b_s for some indices r ≠ s; then, break and print(b_s).
Thanks in advance.