Maximums and Minimums

Another couple of useful tools are the MAX and MIN operators that allow you to grab the boundary values in a column (alphanumeric). The most generic syntax follows something like:

    SELECT MAX (column_name)
    FROM table_name
    WHERE where_clause [optional];

For example, consider the following case in which we grab the employee with the highest salary:

    SELECT MAX (EMP_SALARY)
    FROM EMPLOYEES;

In this case, we would get the following:

    MAX (EMP_SALARY)
    ----------------
    90000
    ----------------

Of course, you can also redefine the column name in the view by assigning the MAX or MIN value to a column name such as in the following case:

    SELECT top_salary = MIN (EMP_SALARY)
    FROM EMPLOYEES
    WHERE EMP_COMMISSION = '20%';

In this case, we would get the following:

    top_salary
    ----------------
    40000
    ----------------

Performing Math
Introduction to Databases for the Web | Table of Contents
Counting Records