title: Using map to sum the elements of list
body: <p>I was wondering if map can be used at all to sum the elements of a list.</p>
  
  <p>assume <code>a = [1, 2, 3, 4]</code></p>
  
  <p><code>list(map(sum, a))</code> will give an error that <code>int object is not iterable</code> because list wants iterables. </p>
  
  <p><code>map(sum, a)</code> is a valid statement but given the object, I do not see an easy way to dereference it.</p>
  
  <p><code>[map(sum, a)]</code> will return an object inside the list </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13283689/python-sum-the-values-of-lists-of-list/13283721#13283721">this</a> answer states that it should be easy. What am I missing here?</p>