sum() function in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using the sum() Function in Python

📖 Scenario: You are helping a small shop owner who wants to quickly add up the prices of items sold in a day.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple program that uses the sum() function to add all the prices in a list and show the total sales.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of item prices

Create a variable to hold the total sum

Use the sum() function to add all prices

Print the total sum

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Adding prices or scores quickly is common in shops, schools, and many daily tasks.

💼 Career

Knowing how to sum values helps in data analysis, finance, and programming jobs where totals are needed.

1

Create a list of item prices

Create a list called prices with these exact values: 10.5, 23.99, 5.0, 12.75, and 7.25.

Python

# Create the list prices with the given values
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets [] to create a list and separate values with commas.

2

Create a variable to hold the total sum

Create a variable called total and set it to 0.

Python

prices = [10.5, 23.99, 5.0, 12.75, 7.25]
# Create a variable total and set it to 0
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just write total = 0 to start with zero.

3

Use the sum() function to add all prices

Use the sum() function on the prices list and assign the result to the variable total.

Python

prices = [10.5, 23.99, 5.0, 12.75, 7.25]
total = 0
# Use sum() on prices and assign to total
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use sum(prices) to add all numbers in the list.

4

Print the total sum

Write a print() statement to display the text Total sales: followed by the value of total.

Python

prices = [10.5, 23.99, 5.0, 12.75, 7.25]
total = 0
total = sum(prices)
# Print the total sales with the total value
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an f-string like print(f"Total sales: {total}") to show the result.