list_sum = sum(my_list)

core1_sum = sum(my_list[0:500000])          #goes to core 1
core2_sum = sum(my_list[500001:1000000])    #goes to core 2
all_core_sum = core1_sum + core2_sum        #core 3 does final computation

from multiprocessing import Process, Queue

def do_sum(q,l):
    q.put(sum(l))

def main():
    my_list = range(1000000)

    q = Queue()

    p1 = Process(target=do_sum, args=(q,my_list[:500000]))
    p2 = Process(target=do_sum, args=(q,my_list[500000:]))
    p1.start()
    p2.start()
    r1 = q.get()
    r2 = q.get()
    print r1+r2

if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

from multiprocessing import Process, Queue

thelist = range(1000*1000)

def f(q, sublist):
    q.put(sum(sublist))

def main():
    start = 0
    chunk = 500*1000
    queue = Queue()
    NP = 0
    subprocesses = []
    while start < len(thelist):
      p = Process(target=f, args=(queue, thelist[start:start+chunk]))
      NP += 1
      print 'delegated %s:%s to subprocess %s' % (start, start+chunk, NP)
      p.start()
      start += chunk
      subprocesses.append(p)
    total = 0
    for i in range(NP):
      total += queue.get()
    print "total is", total, '=', sum(thelist)
    while subprocesses:
      subprocesses.pop().join()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

$ python2.6 mup.py
delegated 0:500000 to subprocess 1
delegated 500000:1000000 to subprocess 2
total is 499999500000 = 499999500000