How to Use Excel MAX Function
Prologue
In this article, you’ll learn about one of the most basic functions of Excel – the MAX function. This is used to find the maximum value from a range or group of numbers.
Use Cases of MAX Function
- Suppose you’re the manager of a small electronics shop. You have seven employees. You want to find the best performing employee by finding the highest sales generated. In this case, you can apply the MAX function to return this. You can provide additional perks and benefits to that employee as expression for appreciation.
- If you’ve invested in several financial securities, then you can find the highest return and increase investment in that.
- The maximum value can be an discarded as a cost cutting measure.
- You can also return the highest temperature for a period using this function.
Formula
You need to type the following formula to return the largest value from the range.
=MAX(B3:B8)
Formula Validation
- In ascending order, the numbers are 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, and 35.
- So, the largest number in the range is 35.
Visualize in Google Sheets
You can check the code in the following Google Sheet file. The structure is the same as in the Excel version. You can also copy this sheet and practice it yourself.
Facts About Excel MAX Function
- If there are no numbers in the range, then this will return 0.
- To include logical values, you should use the MAXA function instead.
- You can ignore negative values by using =MAX(0,your_numbers). This will always return a positive maximum value.
Epilogue
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Next Read
You can read the following articles to further strengthen your knowledge of Excel.
- Excel MIN Function
- Excel LARGE Function
- Excel SMALL Function