Summarizing with MIN( ) and MAX( )
Problem
You need to determine the smallest or largest of a set of values.
Solution
Use MIN( ) to find the smallest value, MAX( ) to find
the largest.
Discussion
Finding smallest or largest values is somewhat akin to sorting,
except that instead of producing an entire set of sorted values, you
select only a single value at one end or the other of the sorted
range. This kind of operation applies to questions about smallest,
largest, oldest, newest, most expensive, least expensive, and so
forth. One way to find such values is to use the MIN( ) and MAX( ) functions. (Another way to
address these questions is to use LIMIT; see the
discussions in Recipe 3.17 and Recipe 3.19.)
Because MIN( ) and MAX( )
determine the extreme values in a set, they’re
useful for characterizing ranges:
What date range is represented by the rows in the
mailtable? What are the smallest and largest messages sent?mysql>
SELECT->MIN(t) AS earliest, MAX(t) AS latest,->MIN(size) AS smallest, MAX(size) AS largest->FROM mail;+---------------------+---------------------+----------+---------+ | earliest | latest | smallest | largest | +---------------------+---------------------+----------+---------+ | 2001-05-11 10:15:08 | 2001-05-19 22:21:51 | 271 | 2394482 | +---------------------+---------------------+----------+---------+What are the shortest and longest trips in the
driver_logtable?mysql>
SELECT MIN(miles) AS shortest, MAX(miles) AS longest->FROM driver_log;+----------+---------+ ...