However, you may have run into this error if you tried to sum an array of numbers but mistakenly forgot the surrounding brackets: > sum(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

You can even sum over a dictionary: > dict_with_num_keys = for dictionaries). For example, you can sum over a tuple: > tup_to_sum = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) The sum function will work with any iterable object that contains numbers. However, lists aren't the only data type that you can sum. The most frequent use of the sum function in Python is to sum a list of numbers: > list_to_sum = Let's take a look at several examples that show how to use the sum function in Python. The default value for this is zero.Īs of Python 3.8, the start argument is a keyword argument that can be defined in the function call itself or elsewhere in the code. Here, the keyword argument is the one called start, an optional starting value from which the sum function should start adding numbers. Note that in the documentation notation, the slash character ( /) separates optional keyword arguments from required positional ones. The second argument is an optional keyword argument. Usually, this is a list of numbers, but the sum function in Python will take any iterable as the first argument. The first argument is a positional argument, and it must be an iterable object. The basic syntax is as follows: sum(iterable, /, start=0) Sum() is a function that takes in an iterable and returns the mathematical sum of its elements. In this article, you'll get a detailed look at how to use the sum function in Python, as well as how it differs from the plus sign operator ( +). One of the math functions that Python provides you with out of the box is the sum() function. This speeds up development time, as there's no need for you to code these operations from scratch.

Python comes equipped with several built-in functions that allow you to perform basic math operations.

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