Is it possible to use .reduce with a const?

Question

I was completing an assignment in my coding bootcamp. They asked us to use.reduce to come up with a value. However, they initialized the total value using a const variable. When I would try to solve this problem using the const value, it kept throwing errors.

Because in my head, you can't change the const value. I simply replaced const with let. I'm not sure if I was supposed to change the code in that way but that's what I did.

const populationTotal = 0;

populationTotal = zooAnimals.reduce((total, item) => total + item.population, 0);

console.log(populationTotal);

If I keep the code the way it is, (const populationTotal = 0), it throws an error. When I changed the code (let populationTotal = 0), the problem was solved. Am I correct in thinking that you have to change const to let. Or is there a way to solve this problem with a const initial value?

Answer 1

Am I correct in thinking that you have to change const to let.

Yes, if you want to mutate the variables value after declaration.

Or is there a way to solve this problem with a const initial value

Sure. You can choose another initial value instead of 0 .

 const populationTotal = /* calculate the result here */;