Sum the minimum values in Maple

Question

I have a list A := [3,1,7,2,4,9] in Maple.

How can I get the n minimum values?

I need to sum the n minimum values, so I guess I should use something like

n := 3:
A := [3, 1, 7, 2, 4, 9]:
add( [ seq( min( A ), i=1..n) ] );

but it will just sum 1 + 1 + 1, since the minimum value is 1 every time. I need to remove the minimum value when it is first occurred.

Answer 1

A simple approach is to first sort A.

restart;

A := [3,1,7,2,4,9]:
n := 3:

B := sort(A);
                       B := [1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9]

add(B[i], i=1..n);
                                  6

What do you want to happen if some value occurs more than once?

[edited] The followup question involved how 0 may be removed from a list. Here are few ways.

restart;

A := [3,1,0,7,2,0,4,0,9]:

remove(x->x=0, A);

                    [3, 1, 7, 2, 4, 9]

remove(type, A, identical(0));

                    [3, 1, 7, 2, 4, 9]

map(x->`if`(x=0,NULL,x), A);

                    [3, 1, 7, 2, 4, 9]

BTW, you didn't clarify what you wanted done when non-zero values occur more than once.