Extremes {base} | R Documentation

## Maxima and Minima

### Description

Returns the (parallel) maxima and minima of the input values.

### Usage

    max(..., na.rm=FALSE)
    min(..., na.rm=FALSE)

    pmax(..., na.rm=FALSE)
    pmin(..., na.rm=FALSE)

### Arguments

`...` | numeric arguments.
`na.rm` | a logical indicating whether missing values should be removed.

### Value

`max` and `min` return the maximum or minimum of all the values present in their arguments, as `integer` if all are `integer`, or as `double` otherwise.
The minimum and maximum of an empty set are `+Inf` and `-Inf` (in this order!) which ensures transitivity, e.g., `min(x1, min(x2)) == min(x1,x2)`. In R versions before 1.5, `min(integer(0)) == .Machine$integer.max`, and analogously for `max`, preserving argument type, whereas from R version 1.5.0, `max(x) == -Inf` and `min(x) == +Inf` whenever `length(x) == 0` (after removing missing values if requested).
If `na.rm` is `FALSE` an `NA` value in any of the arguments will cause a value of `NA` to be returned, otherwise `NA` values are ignored.
`pmax` and `pmin` take several vectors (or matrices) as arguments and return a single vector giving the “parallel” maxima (or minima) of the vectors. The first element of the result is the maximum (minimum) of the first elements of all the arguments, the second element of the result is the maximum (minimum) of the second elements of all the arguments and so on. Shorter vectors are recycled if necessary. If `na.rm` is `FALSE`, `NA` values in the input vectors will produce `NA` values in the output. If `na.rm` is `TRUE`, `NA` values are ignored. `attributes` (such as `names` or `dim`) are transferred from the first argument (if applicable).
`max` and `min` are generic functions: methods can be defined for them individually or via the `Summary` group generic. For this to work properly, the arguments `...` should be unnamed.
By definition the min/max of any vector containing an `NaN` is `NaN`, except that the min/max of any vector containing an `NA` is `NA` even if it also contains an `NaN`. Note that `max(NA, Inf) == NA` even though the maximum would be `inf` whatever the missing value actually is.

### References

Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988) The New S Language. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.

### See Also

`range` (both min and max) and `which.min` (`which.max`) for the arg min, i.e., the location where an extreme value occurs.

### Examples

    require(stats)
     min(5:1, pi) #-> one number
    pmin(5:1, pi) #->  5  numbers

    x <- sort(rnorm(100));  cH <- 1.35
    pmin(cH, quantile(x)) # no names
    pmin(quantile(x), cH) # has names
    plot(x, pmin(cH, pmax(-cH, x)), type='b', main= "Huber's function")

[Package base version 2.3.1 Index]