FAQ: Code Challenge: Dictionaries - Sum Values

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This community-built FAQ covers the “Sum Values” exercise from the lesson “Code Challenge: Dictionaries”.

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FAQs on the exercise Sum Values

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2

How do I check whether my values are integers before I add them?
I tried to use:
if values == type(int) <— resulted in nothing being added

if values.is_integer() <---- value has no function ‘is_integer()’

3

Nevermind, I solved it using a try/except block. If there is a better way to do this however, I am all ears!

4

See isinstance (object, classinfo).

With that function, you can do this:

  for val in my_dictionary.values():
    if isinstance(val, int):
        sum += val
5 
def sum_values(my_dictionary):

  return sum(value for value in my_dictionary.values())
6

Would anyone be able to explain exactly how this works?

7

It is using some kind of list comprehension but, to be honest, it is kind of a stupid solution because =

my_dictionary.values() == [value for value in my_dictionary.values()]

So, I could just do:

def sum_values(my_dictionary):
    return sum(my_dictionary.values())

About sum(): https://www.programiz.com/python-programming/methods/built-in/sum