C Exercises: Sum of all elements in an array

Last update on March 19 2025 12:41:02 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

16. Sum of Array Using Pointers

Write a program in C to compute the sum of all elements in an array using pointers.

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    // Declaring variables
    int arr1[10];
    int i, n, sum = 0;
    int *pt;

    // Displaying the purpose of the program
    printf("\n\n Pointer : Sum of all elements in an array :\n");
    printf("------------------------------------------------\n");

    // Inputting the number of elements for the array (maximum 10)
    printf(" Input the number of elements to store in the array (max 10) : ");
    scanf("%d", &n);

    // Inputting elements into the array
    printf(" Input %d number of elements in the array : \n", n);
    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        printf(" element - %d : ", i + 1);
        scanf("%d", &arr1[i]);
    }

    pt = arr1; // pt stores the base address of array arr1

    // Calculating the sum of array elements using pointer
    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        sum = sum + *pt; // Adding the value pointed by pt to the sum
        pt++; // Moving the pointer to the next element of the array
    }

    // Displaying the sum of the array elements
    printf(" The sum of array is : %d\n\n", sum);
}

Sample Output:

 Pointer : Sum of all elements in an array :                                                                  
------------------------------------------------                                                              
 Input the number of elements to store in the array (max 10) : 5                                              
 Input 5 number of elements in the array :                                                                    
 element - 1 : 2                                                                                              
 element - 2 : 3                                                                                              
 element - 3 : 4                                                                                              
 element - 4 : 5                                                                                              
 element - 5 : 6                                                                                              
 The sum of array is : 20

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a C program to compute the sum of an array’s elements using pointer arithmetic instead of indexing.
• Write a C program to calculate the sum of an array using recursion with pointers.
• Write a C program to sum an array of integers dynamically allocated and accessed via pointers.
• Write a C program to find the sum of even-indexed and odd-indexed elements separately using pointers.

C Programming Code Editor:

Click to Open Editor

Have another way to solve this solution? Contribute your code (and comments) through Disqus.

Previous: Write a program in C to show how a function returning pointer.
Next: Write a program in C to print the elements of an array in reverse order.