The degrees of the components are preserved.
i1 : R = ZZ/101[a..d];
i2 : C = res coker vars R 1 4 6 4 1 o2 = R <-- R <-- R <-- R <-- R 0 1 2 3 4 o2 : ChainComplex
i3 : sum C 16 o3 = R o3 : R - module, free
i4 : degrees oo o4 = {{0}, {1}, {1}, {1}, {1}, {2}, {2}, {2}, {2}, {2}, {2}, {3}, {3}, {3}, {3}, {4}} o4 : List
See also sum and sum ChainComplexMap.