How can I add the corresponding elements of several lists of numbers?

Question

I have some lists of numbers:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
[3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

How can I add these lists\' elements, assuming that all of th

Answer 1

Try this functional style code:

>>> map(sum, zip(*lists))
[6, 9, 12, 15, 18]

The zip function matches elements with the same index.

>>> zip(*lists)
[(1, 2, 3), (2, 3, 4), (3, 4, 5), (4, 5, 6), (5, 6, 7)]

Then sum is applied to each tuple by using map.

See it working online: ideone

---

Note that in Python 3.x, map no longer returns a list. If you need the list, please see the following question:

• Getting a map() to return a list in Python 3.x

(You can just call list).