ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

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( )