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max() 

max(..., na.rm = FALSE, na.last = TRUE, type = c("ordinary", "ordered"))
Returns numeric· Updated May 12, 2026· Base Functions
statisticsmaxbase

max() returns the maximum value of its arguments. It is among the most frequently used functions for exploratory data analysis and statistical summaries.

Syntax

max(..., na.rm = FALSE, na.last = TRUE, type = c("ordinary", "ordered"))

Parameters

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
...numeric—One or more vectors, or atomic values. Multiple arguments are combined element-wise.
na.rmlogicalFALSEIf TRUE, NA values are removed before computing the result.
na.lastlogicalTRUEFor na.rm = FALSE, controls where NA is placed in the output.
typecharacter"ordinary"Either "ordinary" for standard comparison, or "ordered" for ordered factors.

Examples

Basic usage

x <- c(3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6)
max(x)
# [1] 9

Multiple arguments

max(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
# [1] 5

max(c(1, 2), c(3, 4), 5)
# [1] 5

Handling missing values

y <- c(1, 2, NA, 4, 5)

max(y)
# [1] NA

max(y, na.rm = TRUE)
# [1] 5

With different data types

# Character vectors (uses alphabetical order)
chars <- c("apple", "banana", "cherry")
max(chars)
# [1] "cherry"

# Logical vectors (TRUE = 1, FALSE = 0)
max(c(TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, FALSE))
# [1] 1

Common Patterns

Finding the range of a vector

data <- c(3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6)
range_val <- range(data)
range_val
# [1] 1 9

max(data) - min(data)
# [1] 8

Identifying which element is max

scores <- c(85, 92, 78, 91, 88)
which.max(scores)
# [1] 2

# Get the actual value
scores[which.max(scores)]
# [1] 92

Normalizing by scaling to 0-1

values <- c(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)

scaled <- (values - min(values)) / (max(values) - min(values))
scaled
# [1] 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00

See Also