The Math.max()
function returns the largest of the zero or more numbers given as input parameters.
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Syntax
Math.max([value1[, value2[, ...]]])
Parameters
value1, value2, ...
- Numbers.
Return value
The largest of the given numbers. If at least one of the arguments cannot be converted to a number, NaN
is returned.
Description
Because Math
is not a constructor, max()
is a static method of Math
(You always use it as Math.max()
, rather than as a method of an instanced Math
object).
-Infinity
is the initial comparant because almost every other value is bigger, that's why when no arguments are given, -Infinity
is returned.
If at least one of arguments cannot be converted to a number, the result is NaN
.
Examples
Using Math.max()
Math.max(10, 20); // 20 Math.max(-10, -20); // -10 Math.max(-10, 20); // 20
Getting the maximum element of an array
Array.reduce()
can be used to find the maximum element in a numeric array, by comparing each value:
var arr = [1,2,3]; var max = arr.reduce(function(a, b) { return Math.max(a, b); });
The following function uses Function.prototype.apply()
to get the maximum of an array. getMaxOfArray([1, 2, 3])
is equivalent to Math.max(1, 2, 3)
, but you can use getMaxOfArray()
on programmatically constructed arrays. This should only be used for arrays with relatively few elements.
function getMaxOfArray(numArray) { return Math.max.apply(null, numArray); }
The new spread operator is a shorter way of writing the apply
solution to get the maximum of an array:
var arr = [1, 2, 3]; var max = Math.max(...arr);
However, both spread (...
) and apply
will either fail or return the wrong result if the array has too many elements, because they try to pass the array elements as function parameters. See Using apply
and built-in functions for more details. The reduce
solution does not have this problem.
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Math.max' in that specification. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | Server | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
max | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 3 | Opera Full support 3 | Safari Full support 1 | WebView Android Full support 1 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 10.1 | Safari iOS Full support 1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 | nodejs Full support 0.1.100 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support