Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Basics (Retired) Putting the "Fun" Back in "Function" Functions

somethings not right Make a function named add_list that takes a list. The function should then add all of the items in

Dear Python friends. can someone please help me understand the add_list challenge question. I'm really not getting it.

add_list(0) ??

Thanks

functions.py
add_list = ([1, 2, 3])
print result 6# add_list([1, 2, 3]) should return 6
# summarize([1, 2, 3]) should return "The sum of [1, 2, 3] is 6."
# Note: both functions will only take *one* argument each.

2 Answers

Hi Terence,

What you want to do here is create the function that accepts a list, and then iterate through each item in the list and add it to a running total, then return that total value. Here's my code for accomplishing that task:

def add_list(my_list):
  total = 0
  for item in my_list:
    total += item
  return total

Note that I'm using variables for the list, total, and items within the list to allow the function to be passed any list. Hope that helps!

Fergus Clare
Fergus Clare
12,120 Points

This worked for me:

def add_list(a_list)
   output=sum(a_list)
   return output

While I find the questions that ask non-intuitive, they do prompt one to provide the least complicated answer. The actual int value of the list from the comments in the challenge don't matter, what does matter is its ability to return the sum of the list.