The MAX function

The MAX function is a statistical function which returns the largest numeric value within a dataset. If text or other non-numeric data types are stored within the range they will be omitted from the calculations. TRUE and FALSE arguments are not counted as being numeric values.

This is the format of the MAX function:

=MAX(RANGE 1, RANGE 2, RANGE 3, etc…)

Here is an example of the MAX function:

=MAX(1, 4, 9, TRUE, FALSE, “hello”, 7) = 9

This function is valuable when comparing multiple sets or ranges of data to determine the largest value available. This could be regarding any field in which you are unlikely to use a single source to determine your results.

An example of a functional implementation of this would be planning to diversify into more consumer goods products which multiple competitors offer in their assortment. By retrieving the historical prices of a specific good across all retailers who offer it, you can locate the highest value they sold it for. Doing this can give you an idea of how high you can mark up the product while remaining competitive.

=MAX(STORE 1 RANGE, STORE 2 RANGE, STORE 3 RANGE)