How to find the sum of an array of numbers

Question

Given an array [1, 2, 3, 4], how can I find the sum of its elements? (In this case, the sum would be 10.)

I thought $.each might be useful,

Answer 1

Why not reduce? It's usually a bit counter intuitive, but using it to find a sum is pretty straightforward:

var a = [1,2,3];
var sum = a.reduce(function(a, b) { return a + b; }, 0);

Answer 2

OK, imagine you have this array below:

const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4];

Let's start looking into many different ways to do it as I couldn't find any comprehensive answer here:

1) Using built-in reduce()

function total(arr) {
  if(!Array.isArray(arr)) return;
  return arr.reduce((a, v)=>a + v);
}

2) Using for loop

function total(arr) {
  if(!Array.isArray(arr)) return;
  let totalNumber = 0;
  for (let i=0,l=arr.length; i<l; i++) {
     totalNumber+=arr[i];
  }
  return totalNumber;
}

3) Using while loop

function total(arr) {
  if(!Array.isArray(arr)) return;
  let totalNumber = 0, i=-1;
  while (++i < arr.length) {
     totalNumber+=arr[i];
  }
  return totalNumber;
}

4) Using array forEach

function total(arr) {
  if(!Array.isArray(arr)) return;
  let sum=0;
  arr.forEach(each => {
    sum+=each;
  });
  return sum;
};

and call it like this:

total(arr); //return 10

It's not recommended to prototype something like this to Array...

Answer 3

A standard JavaScript solution:

var addition = [];
addition.push(2);
addition.push(3);

var total = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < addition.length; i++)
{
    total += addition[i];
}
alert(total);          // Just to output an example
/* console.log(total); // Just to output an example with Firebug */

This works for me (the result should be 5). I hope there is no hidden disadvantage in this kind of solution.

Answer 4

A few people have suggested adding a .sum() method to the Array.prototype. This is generally considered bad practice so I'm not suggesting that you do it.

If you still insist on doing it then this is a succinct way of writing it:

Array.prototype.sum = function() {return [].reduce.call(this, (a,i) => a+i, 0);}

then: [1,2].sum(); // 3

Note that the function added to the prototype is using a mixture of ES5 and ES6 function and arrow syntax. The function is declared to allow the method to get the this context from the Array that you're operating on. I used the => for brevity inside the reduce call.

Answer 5

var total = 0;
$.each(arr,function() {
    total += this;
});

Answer 6

Use reduce

let arr = [1, 2, 3, 4];

let sum = arr.reduce((v, i) => (v + i));

console.log(sum);