lista = [4, 2, 1, 3] listb = lista lista.sort() print lista print listb print id(lista) print id(listb) import numpy as np def get_sorted_cumsum(numbers): numbers.sort() cum_sum = np.cumsum(numbers) return cum_sum mynumbers = [5, 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, 1] sorted_cumsum = get_sorted_cumsum(mynumbers) print mynumbers lista = [4, 2, 1, 3] listb = lista[:] lista.sort() print lista print listb