max, min - find the maximum or minimum argument

(import (rnrs))                     ;R6RS
(import (rnrs base))                ;R6RS
(import (scheme r5rs))              ;R7RS
(import (scheme base))              ;R7RS
(import (rnrs arithmetic fixnums))  ;R6RS
(import (rnrs arithmetic flonums))  ;R6RS

(max x1 x2 ...)
(fxmax fx1 fx2 ...)                 ;R6RS
(flmax fl1 fl2 ...)                 ;R6RS
(min x1 x2 ...)
(fxmin fx1 fx2 ...)                 ;R6RS
(flmin fl1 fl2 ...)                 ;R6RS

These procedures return the maximum or minimum of their arguments.

Generic versions

For any real number object x that is not a NaN:

(max +inf.0 x)  =>  +inf.0
(min -inf.0 x)  =>  -inf.0
    

If any argument is inexact, then the result is also inexact (unless the procedure can prove that the inaccuracy is not large enough to affect the result, which is possible only in unusual implementations).

Fixnum versions

The arguments and the return value are fixnums. There are no special cases.

Flonum versions

The arguments are the return value are flonums. If one or more of the arguments is a NaN then a NaN is returned.

Returns a single number object.

(max 3 4)        =>  4
(max 3.9 4)      =>  4.0
(max 42 +nan.0)  => +nan.0

The generic versions of these procedures work the same in all Scheme revisions.

This procedure can raise exceptions with the following condition types:

&assertion (R6RS)

The wrong number of arguments was passed or an argument was outside its domain.

&implementation-restriction (R6RS)

May be raised if min or max is used to compare number objects of mixed exactness, and the numerical value of the result cannot be represented as an inexact number object without loss of accuracy.

R7RS

The reasons for &assertion described above are errors. Implementations may signal an error, extend the procedure's domain of definition to include such arguments, or fail catastrophically. It is not specified how implementations should handle the &implementation-restriction case described above, but the program may be stopped.

<(3scm)

R4RS, IEEE Scheme, R5RS, R6RS, R7RS

The generic versions of these procedures are in all Scheme reports since R2RS. Early Scheme built on top of MacLISP also provided them.

The fixnum and flonum versions are new in R6RS.

This page is part of the scheme-manpages project. It includes materials from the RnRS documents. More information can be found at https://weinholt.se/scheme/manpages/.

IEEE Scheme accidentally omitted min.