Program to find sum of odd elements from list in Python

In Python, you can find the sum of all odd elements in an existing List using one of the following ways:

  • Using List Comprehension

  • Using a Loop

  • Using filter() Function

Using List Comprehension

The List Comprehension method allows us to create a new list by applying an expression or condition to each element in the list.

Example

This approach iterates over each element in the list, filters odd elements using the condition i % 2 == 1, and uses the sum() function to add all filtered elements ?

def solve(nums):
    return sum([i for i in nums if i % 2 == 1])

nums = [13, 27, 12, 10, 18, 42]
print('The sum of odd elements is:', solve(nums))
The sum of odd elements is: 40

Using a Loop

This is a common approach that iterates over the list to check each element if it's odd.

Example

Initialize the sum as total = 0, iterate through each element using a for loop, check for odd elements using i % 2 == 1, and add those elements to total ?

def solve(nums):
    total = 0
    for i in nums:
        if i % 2 == 1:
            total += i
    return total

nums = [5, 7, 6, 4, 6, 9, 3, 6, 2]
print('The sum of odd elements is:', solve(nums))
The sum of odd elements is: 24

Using filter() Function

The filter() function creates an iterator that filters elements in an existing list based on a given condition.

Example

Use filter(lambda x: x % 2 == 1, nums) to filter odd numbers and pass the filtered result to the sum() function ?

def solve(nums):
    return sum(filter(lambda x: x % 2 == 1, nums))

nums = [5, 7, 6, 4, 6, 3, 6, 2]
print('The sum of odd elements is:', solve(nums))
The sum of odd elements is: 15

Comparison

Method Readability Performance Best For
List Comprehension High Fast Concise filtering operations
Loop High Good Complex logic or beginners
filter() Function Medium Memory efficient Functional programming style

Conclusion

List comprehension provides the most concise and readable solution for finding the sum of odd elements. Use loops for more complex logic or when learning Python fundamentals.

Updated on: 2026-03-26T15:35:48+05:30

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