Need help making an adding machine using Lists, Loops And Conditionals

Question

Hello im pretty new to python and programming in general and I was wondering if I could get a bit of help with starting this program I have to do for my college class. In this Lab we have to create a program that stimulates an adding machine. It's suppose to read from a list and add them. I've been having a really hard time understanding and memorizing Lists, Loops and Conditionals which is why I need help starting this program out. If anyone is willing to reach out and guide me through it then it would be really helpful.

Answer 1

Summing up list elements using Python is straight forward, e.g

my_list = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]
print( sum( my_list ) )

I understand the requirement to use list and loop, but I'm not understanding why you are required to use conditionals. Is there a specification about values worth to be included in the value summary? e.g. only positive numbers, odd/even numbers etc.

Answer 2

Ok so for example this list

[ 10, 20, 30, 0, 40, 50, 60 ]

You are required to have

[ 60, 150 ]

In list <answer>, is that it?

Answer 3

Yes that's it. Like the numbers I have for example [1, 5, 3, 0, 8, 2, -3, 8, 0, 10, 0, 5, 2, 0, 6, 2, 0]

it should all come to an output of

15
10
9
8
7

Answer 4

Wait, how did those number come to be? I thought the task was to add the elements until there's a zero.

[1, 5, 3, 0, 8, 2, -3, 8, 0, 10, 0, 5, 2, 0, 6, 2, 0]

1 + 5 + 3 => 9
8 + 2 + (-3) + 8 => 15
10 => 10
5 + 2 => 7
6 + 2 => 8

Did I miss something? or misunderstand?

Answer 5

In the instructions it also states that when it encounters a zero in the list it's suppose to put the current total into a separate list called answers and then reset the running total back to zero. So basically each team it hits 0 in the list it's suppose to add on the next numbers and so on.