How do I find the maximum (larger, greater) of 2 numbers?

Question

I have two variables value and run:

value = -9999
run = problem.getscore()

How can I find out which one is greater, and get the greater value?

_{See also Find the greatest (largest, maximum) number in a list of numbers - those approaches work (and are shown here), but two numbers can also be compared directly.}

score 330 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 19 '18 at 15:23

330

Use the builtin function max.

Example: max(2, 4) returns 4.

Just for giggles, there's a min as well...should you need it. :P

edited Sep 19 '18 at 15:23

phoenix

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answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

Ashley Grenon

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score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

31

max()

answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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dave · Answer 3 · 2010-07-28T20:56:44.717

21

max(number_one, number_two)

edited Jul 28 '10 at 20:56

answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

dave

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1

Just `max(number_one, number_two)`. The `[]`'s don't add anything useful. – Thomas Wouters Jul 28 '10 at 20:51
1

yeah, those were to show that you should just use to arbitrary numbers, but I can see how that would be confusing – dave Jul 28 '10 at 20:56

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

9

You can use max(value, run)

The function max takes any number of arguments, or (alternatively) an iterable, and returns the maximum value.

answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

Chris B.

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score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

9

max(value,run)

should do it.

answered Jul 28 '10 at 20:50

Tim Pietzcker

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score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 23 '16 at 19:08

5

You could also achieve the same result by using a Conditional Expression:

maxnum = run if run > value else value

a bit more flexible than max but admittedly longer to type.

answered Nov 23 '16 at 19:08

Dimitris Fasarakis Hilliard

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score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 28 '10 at 22:02

4

Just for the fun of it, after the party has finished and the horse bolted.

The answer is: max() !

answered Jul 28 '10 at 22:02

Muhammad Alkarouri

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score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 22 '16 at 22:52

3

(num1>=num2)*num1+(num2>num1)*num2 will return the maximum of two values.

answered Sep 22 '16 at 22:52

Mason

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score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 25 '13 at 15:33

1

I noticed that if you have divisions it rounds off to integer, it would be better to use:

c=float(max(a1,...,an))/b

Sorry for the late post!

edited Apr 25 '13 at 15:33

Michael W

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answered Apr 25 '13 at 15:08

Ivranovi

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What is `b`, and why would the problem involve doing any division? – Karl Knechtel Mar 08 '23 at 17:21

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 09 '16 at 02:13

1

numberList=[16,19,42,43,74,66]

largest = numberList[0]

for num2 in numberList:

    if num2 > largest:

        largest=num2

print(largest)

gives largest number out of the numberslist without using a Max statement

edited Jun 09 '16 at 02:13

Suever

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answered Jun 09 '16 at 00:05

Ryan

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 08 '21 at 12:53

0

# Python 3
value = -9999
run = int(input())

maxnum = run if run > value else value
print(maxnum)

answered Jun 08 '21 at 12:53

Nages

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While this code may answer the question, providing additional context regarding why and/or how this code answers the question improves its long-term value. – Buddy Bob Jun 08 '21 at 17:52

svikramjeet · Answer 12 · 2023-03-09T08:33:09.057

There are multiple ways to achieve this:

Custom method

def maximum(a, b):
if a >= b:
    return a
else:
    return b
 
value = -9999
run = problem.getscore()
print(maximum(value, run))

Inbuilt max()

value = -9999
run = problem.getscore()
print(max(value, run))

Use of ternary operator

value = -9999
run = problem.getscore()
print(value if value >= run else run)

But as you mentioned you are looking for inbuilt so you can use max()

How do I find the maximum (larger, greater) of 2 numbers?

12 Answers12

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