Total has been changed in Mathematica 12.0. The documentation seems to contradict itself. In one line it states:
Total[ $f[ e_1,e_2,...]$ ] gives the sum of the $e_i$ for any head $f$
In the next line one reads:
By default, Total only adds up elements inside List, SparseArray, StructuredArray and Association.
As a matter of fact, in Mathematica 12.0 Total[ f[a,b] ] does not evaluate to a+b as it did in Mathematica 11.3.
Instead, the new option AllowedHeads was introduced and one can for example write now Total[f[a,b], AllowedHeads->Inherited] for obtaining the old output.
This is a breaking change. I wonder if this was intended by Wolfram?
AllowedHeadsis illegal in V11.3 and permissible now in V12, I'd say the change was clearly intended. You could useSetOptions[Total, AllowedHeads -> Inherited]as a general workaround. (It seems the documentation could use a good copy editor.) – Michael E2 May 22 '19 at 16:00Total[expr]was supposed to be equivalent toPlus @@ epxr. – Anton Antonov May 23 '19 at 08:10