def symmetric_difference_by(a, b, fn): (_a, _b) = (set(map(fn, a)), set(map(fn, b))) return [item for item in a if fn(item) not in _b] + [item for item in b if fn(item) not in _a] from math import floor symmetric_difference_by([2.1, 1.2], [2.3, 3.4], floor) # [1.2, 3.4]