The reduce() method allows for more general forms of array processing, and it's possible to show that both filter and map can be derived as special applications of reduce. The reduce method iterates over each item in an array and returns a single value (i.e. string, number, object, array). This is achieved via a callback function that is called on each iteration.

The callback function accepts four arguments. The first argument is known as the accumulator, which gets assigned the return value of the callback function from the previous iteration, the second is the current element being processed, the third is the index of that element and the fourth is the array upon which reduce is called.

In addition to the callback function, reduce has an additional parameter which takes an initial value for the accumulator. If this second parameter is not used, then the first iteration is skipped and the second iteration gets passed the first element of the array as the accumulator.

The basic syntax is:

reduce(function(previousValue, currentValue, currentIndex, array) { /* ... */ }, initialValue)
// In an arrow function
reduce((previousValue, currentValue, currentIndex, array) => { /* ... */ }, initialValue)

See below for an example using reduce on the users array to return the sum of all the users' ages. For simplicity, the example only uses the first and second arguments.

const users = [
  { name: 'John', age: 34 },
  { name: 'Amy', age: 20 },
  { name: 'camperCat', age: 10 }
];

const sumOfAges = users.reduce((sum, user) => sum + user.age, 0);
console.log(sumOfAges); // =>`64`.

To sum up the values contained in an array of objects, you must supply an initialValue, so that each item passes through your function.

let initialValue = 0
let sum = [{x: 1}, {x: 2}, {x: 3}].reduce(function (previousValue, currentValue) {
    return previousValue + currentValue.x
}, initialValue)

console.log(sum) // => logs 6

// With arrow function

let initialValue = 0
let sum = [{x: 1}, {x: 2}, {x: 3}].reduce(
    (previousValue, currentValue) => previousValue + currentValue.x
    , initialValue
)

console.log(sum) // => logs 6

In another example, see how an object can be returned containing the names of the users as properties with their ages as values.

const users = [
  { name: 'John', age: 34 },
  { name: 'Amy', age: 20 },
  { name: 'camperCat', age: 10 }
];

const usersObj = users.reduce((obj, user) => {
  obj[user.name] = user.age;
  return obj;
}, {});
console.log(usersObj);

The console would display the value { John: 34, Amy: 20, camperCat: 10 }.