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Math.max(x, y)

Arguments

x

A number.

y

A number.

Returns

The larger of x and y.

Description

The max( ) function compares two numbers and returns the larger of the two. When comparing two negative numbers, the one with a smaller absolute value is actually larger (see the following Example). If used on strings, max( ) returns NaN.

Example

Math.max(5, 1);                        // Returns 5
Math.max(-6, -5);                      // Returns -5
Math.max(Math.abs(-6), Math.abs(-5));  // Returns 6

This example constrains (clips) a value to the specified range:

function constrainToRange (checkVal, minVal, maxVal) {
  return Math.min(Math.max(checkVal, minVal), maxVal);
}
// Constrain the slider to between 100 and 200
mySlider._x = constainToRange(mySlider._x, 100, 200);

This example returns the maximum value in an array:

function maxInArray (checkArray) {
  maxVal = -Number.MAX_VALUE;  // Initialize maxVal to a very small number
  for (var i = 0; i < checkArray.length; i++) {
    maxVal = Math.max(checkArray[i], maxVal);
  }
  return maxVal;
}
   
trace(maxInArray([2,3,66,4,342,-90,0]));  // Displays: 342

See Also

Math.abs( ), Math.min( )

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