The MIN and MAX functions are unique in being able to take any number of arguments from two upwards; the result has the same data type as the arguments.
* = MIN(IRD,IRD,...) | returns the smallest of its arguments. |
* = MAX(IRD,IRD,...) | returns the largest of its arguments. |
These two functions can, of course, be combined to limit a value
to a certain range. For example, to limit a value TEMPER to the
range 32 to 212 you can use an expression such as:
MAX(32.0, MIN(TEMPER, 212.0))
Note that the minimum of the range is an argument of the MAX
function and vice-versa.
To find the largest (or smallest) element of a large array it is necessary use a loop.
*Find largest value in array T of N elements: TOP = T(1) DO 25,I = 2,N TOP = MAX(T(I), TOP) 25 CONTINUE *TOP now contains the largest element of T.