Swap Without a Third Variable | Dataford Interview Questions

An IFS Cloud scheduling utility needs to exchange two integer values in place. Implement a function that swaps the values of two integer variables without introducing a third variable, using only arithmetic operations.

The function should return the values after the swap because Python integers are immutable and the caller cannot observe reassignment of local parameters directly. Do not use tuple unpacking, a temporary variable, lists, dictionaries, or built-in swap helpers.

Formal Specification

Implement swap_integers(a, b):

Input: Two integers, a and b.
Output: A two-element tuple (b, a) represented as a tuple containing the swapped values.
Extra space: O(1).

Constraints

-10^9 <= a, b <= 10^9
a and b are integers
Do not create a third variable
Do not use tuple unpacking or built-in swap helpers

Function Signature

def swap_integers(a, b):

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