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I have a collection of BigDecimals (in this example, a LinkedList) that I would like to add together. Is it possible to use streams to calculate their sum?

I noticed the Stream class has several methods

Stream::mapToInt
Stream::mapToDouble
Stream::mapToLong

Each of which has a convenient sum() method. But, as we know, float and double floating-point types make trade-offs in accuracy for speed.

So, is there a convenient way to sum up BigDecimals?

This is the code I have so far.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    LinkedList<BigDecimal> values = new LinkedList<>();
    values.add(BigDecimal.valueOf(.1));
    values.add(BigDecimal.valueOf(1.1));
    values.add(BigDecimal.valueOf(2.1));
    values.add(BigDecimal.valueOf(.1));
    
    // Classical Java approach
    BigDecimal sum = BigDecimal.ZERO;
    for(BigDecimal value : values) {
        System.out.println(value);
        sum = sum.add(value);
    }
    System.out.println("Sum = " + sum);
    
    // Java 8 approach
    values.forEach((value) -> System.out.println(value));
    System.out.println("Sum = " + values.stream().mapToDouble(BigDecimal::doubleValue).sum());
    System.out.println(values.stream().mapToDouble(BigDecimal::doubleValue).summaryStatistics().toString());
}

As you can see, I am summing up the BigDecimals using BigDecimal::doubleValue(), but this is (as expected) not precise.

Post-answer edit for posterity:

Both answers were extremely helpful. I wanted to add a little: my real-life scenario does not involve a collection of raw BigDecimals, they are wrapped in an invoice. But, I was able to modify Aman Agnihotri's answer to account for this by using the map() function for stream:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    LinkedList<Invoice> invoices = new LinkedList<>();
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C1", "I-001", BigDecimal.valueOf(.1), BigDecimal.valueOf(10)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C2", "I-002", BigDecimal.valueOf(.7), BigDecimal.valueOf(13)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C3", "I-003", BigDecimal.valueOf(2.3), BigDecimal.valueOf(8)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C4", "I-004", BigDecimal.valueOf(1.2), BigDecimal.valueOf(7)));
    
    // Classical Java approach
    BigDecimal sum = BigDecimal.ZERO;
    for(Invoice invoice : invoices) {
        BigDecimal total = invoice.unit_price.multiply(invoice.quantity);
        System.out.println(total);
        sum = sum.add(total);
    }
    System.out.println("Sum = " + sum);
    
    // Java 8 approach
    invoices.forEach((invoice) -> System.out.println(invoice.total()));
    System.out.println("Sum = " + invoices.stream().map((x) -> x.total()).reduce((x, y) -> x.add(y)).get());
}

static class Invoice {
    String company;
    String invoice_number;
    BigDecimal unit_price;
    BigDecimal quantity;

    public Invoice() {
        unit_price = BigDecimal.ZERO;
        quantity = BigDecimal.ZERO;
    }

    public Invoice(String company, String invoice_number, BigDecimal unit_price, BigDecimal quantity) {
        this.company = company;
        this.invoice_number = invoice_number;
        this.unit_price = unit_price;
        this.quantity = quantity;
    }
    
    public BigDecimal total() {
        return unit_price.multiply(quantity);
    }

    public void setUnit_price(BigDecimal unit_price) {
        this.unit_price = unit_price;
    }

    public void setQuantity(BigDecimal quantity) {
        this.quantity = quantity;
    }

    public void setInvoice_number(String invoice_number) {
        this.invoice_number = invoice_number;
    }

    public void setCompany(String company) {
        this.company = company;
    }

    public BigDecimal getUnit_price() {
        return unit_price;
    }

    public BigDecimal getQuantity() {
        return quantity;
    }

    public String getInvoice_number() {
        return invoice_number;
    }

    public String getCompany() {
        return company;
    }
}
Basil Bourque
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ryvantage
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5 Answers5

438

Original answer

Yes, this is possible:

List<BigDecimal> bdList = new ArrayList<>();
//populate list
BigDecimal result = bdList.stream()
        .reduce(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);

What it does is:

  1. Obtain a List<BigDecimal>.
  2. Turn it into a Stream<BigDecimal>
  3. Call the reduce method.

    3.1. We supply an identity value for addition, namely BigDecimal.ZERO.

    3.2. We specify the BinaryOperator<BigDecimal>, which adds two BigDecimal's, via a method reference BigDecimal::add.

Updated answer, after edit

I see that you have added new data, therefore the new answer will become:

List<Invoice> invoiceList = new ArrayList<>();
//populate
Function<Invoice, BigDecimal> totalMapper = invoice -> invoice.getUnit_price().multiply(invoice.getQuantity());
BigDecimal result = invoiceList.stream()
        .map(totalMapper)
        .reduce(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);

It is mostly the same, except that I have added a totalMapper variable, that has a function from Invoice to BigDecimal and returns the total price of that invoice.

Then I obtain a Stream<Invoice>, map it to a Stream<BigDecimal> and then reduce it to a BigDecimal.

Now, from an OOP design point I would advice you to also actually use the total() method, which you have already defined, then it even becomes easier:

List<Invoice> invoiceList = new ArrayList<>();
//populate
BigDecimal result = invoiceList.stream()
        .map(Invoice::total)
        .reduce(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);

Here we directly use the method reference in the map method.

skiwi
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    +1 for `Invoice::total` vs `invoice -> invoice.total()`. – ryvantage Mar 25 '14 at 18:50
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    +1 for method references and for adding line breaks between stream operations, both of which IMHO improve readability considerably. – Stuart Marks Mar 26 '14 at 00:37
  • how would it work if i wanted to add lets say Invoice::total and Invoice::tax into a new array – Richard Lau Nov 13 '15 at 05:26
  • Java standard library already have functions for summing integers/doubles like `Collectors.summingInt()`, but misses them for `BigDecimal`s. Instead of writing `reduce(blah blah blah)` that is hard to read it would be better to write missing collector for `BigDecimal` and have `.collect(summingBigDecimal())` at the end of your pipeline. – csharpfolk May 22 '17 at 17:13
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    This approach can lead to NullponterException – gstackoverflow Sep 20 '17 at 12:17
  • Hi, for `BigDecimal::add` I get the error `Reference to 'add' is ambiguous, both 'add(BigDecimal)' and 'add(BigDecimal, MathContext)' match` – firstpostcommenter Aug 16 '21 at 12:40
21

This post already has a checked answer, but the answer doesn't filter for null values. The correct answer should prevent null values by using the Object::nonNull function as a predicate.

BigDecimal result = invoiceList.stream()
    .map(Invoice::total)
    .filter(Objects::nonNull)
    .filter(i -> (i.getUnit_price() != null) && (i.getQuantity != null))
    .reduce(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);

This prevents null values from attempting to be summed as we reduce.

Siraj
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17

Define a reusable Collector

You can sum up the values of a BigDecimal stream using a reusable Collector named summingUp:

BigDecimal sum = bigDecimalStream.collect(summingUp());

The Collector can be implemented like this:

public static Collector<BigDecimal, ?, BigDecimal> summingUp() {
    return Collectors.reducing(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add);
}
Basil Bourque
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Igor Akkerman
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7

Use this approach to sum the list of BigDecimal:

List<BigDecimal> values = ... // List of BigDecimal objects
BigDecimal sum = values.stream().reduce((x, y) -> x.add(y)).get();

This approach maps each BigDecimal as a BigDecimal only and reduces them by summing them, which is then returned using the get() method.

Here's another simple way to do the same summing:

List<BigDecimal> values = ... // List of BigDecimal objects
BigDecimal sum = values.stream().reduce(BigDecimal::add).get();

Update

If I were to write the class and lambda expression in the edited question, I would have written it as follows:

import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.util.LinkedList;

public class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    LinkedList<Invoice> invoices = new LinkedList<>();
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C1", "I-001", BigDecimal.valueOf(.1), BigDecimal.valueOf(10)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C2", "I-002", BigDecimal.valueOf(.7), BigDecimal.valueOf(13)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C3", "I-003", BigDecimal.valueOf(2.3), BigDecimal.valueOf(8)));
    invoices.add(new Invoice("C4", "I-004", BigDecimal.valueOf(1.2), BigDecimal.valueOf(7)));

    // Java 8 approach, using Method Reference for mapping purposes.
    invoices.stream().map(Invoice::total).forEach(System.out::println);
    System.out.println("Sum = " + invoices.stream().map(Invoice::total).reduce((x, y) -> x.add(y)).get());
  }

  // This is just my style of writing classes. Yours can differ.
  static class Invoice
  {
    private String company;
    private String number;
    private BigDecimal unitPrice;
    private BigDecimal quantity;

    public Invoice()
    {
      unitPrice = quantity = BigDecimal.ZERO;
    }

    public Invoice(String company, String number, BigDecimal unitPrice, BigDecimal quantity)
    {
      setCompany(company);
      setNumber(number);
      setUnitPrice(unitPrice);
      setQuantity(quantity);
    }

    public BigDecimal total()
    {
      return unitPrice.multiply(quantity);
    }

    public String getCompany()
    {
      return company;
    }

    public void setCompany(String company)
    {
      this.company = company;
    }

    public String getNumber()
    {
      return number;
    }

    public void setNumber(String number)
    {
      this.number = number;
    }

    public BigDecimal getUnitPrice()
    {
      return unitPrice;
    }

    public void setUnitPrice(BigDecimal unitPrice)
    {
      this.unitPrice = unitPrice;
    }

    public BigDecimal getQuantity()
    {
      return quantity;
    }

    public void setQuantity(BigDecimal quantity)
    {
      this.quantity = quantity;
    }
  }
}
Aman Agnihotri
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  • Isn't `.map(n -> n)` useless there? Also `get()` is not needed. – Rohit Jain Mar 25 '14 at 13:48
  • @RohitJain: Updated. Thanks. I used `get()` as it returns the value of the `Optional` which is returned by the `reduce` call. If one wants to work with the `Optional` or just print out the sum, then yeah, `get()` isn't needed. But printing the Optional directly prints `Optional[]` based syntax which I doubt the user would need. So `get()` is needed in a way to get the value from the `Optional`. – Aman Agnihotri Mar 25 '14 at 13:56
  • @ryvantage: Yes, your approach is exactly how I would have done it. :) – Aman Agnihotri Mar 25 '14 at 18:09
  • Don't use an unconditional `get` call! If `values` is an empty list the optional will contain no value and will throw a `NoSuchElementException` when `get` is called. You can use `values.stream().reduce(BigDecimal::add).orElse(BigDecimal.ZERO)` instead. – eee Apr 02 '16 at 10:31
6

If you don't mind a third party dependency, there is a class named Collectors2 in Eclipse Collections which contains methods returning Collectors for summing and summarizing BigDecimal and BigInteger. These methods take a Function as a parameter so you can extract a BigDecimal or BigInteger value from an object.

List<BigDecimal> list = mList(
        BigDecimal.valueOf(0.1),
        BigDecimal.valueOf(1.1),
        BigDecimal.valueOf(2.1),
        BigDecimal.valueOf(0.1));

BigDecimal sum =
        list.stream().collect(Collectors2.summingBigDecimal(e -> e));
Assert.assertEquals(BigDecimal.valueOf(3.4), sum);

BigDecimalSummaryStatistics statistics =
        list.stream().collect(Collectors2.summarizingBigDecimal(e -> e));
Assert.assertEquals(BigDecimal.valueOf(3.4), statistics.getSum());
Assert.assertEquals(BigDecimal.valueOf(0.1), statistics.getMin());
Assert.assertEquals(BigDecimal.valueOf(2.1), statistics.getMax());
Assert.assertEquals(BigDecimal.valueOf(0.85), statistics.getAverage());

Note: I am a committer for Eclipse Collections.

Donald Raab
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