MAXA

Returns the maximum of a list of arguments, including text and logical entries.

Syntax:

MAXA(value1, value2, ... value30)

value1 to value30 are up to 30 values or ranges, which may include numbers, text and logical values. Text is evaluated as 0. Logical values are evaluated as 1 (TRUE) and 0 (FALSE).

Example:

MAXA(2, 6, 4)

returns 6, the largest value in the list.

MAXA(B1:B3)

where cells B1, B2, B3 contain -1, -2, and apple returns 0, the value of the text.

MAXA(0, TRUE)

returns 1, the value of TRUE.

Application:

Employee Performance Score

Let's imagine you are a manager tracking employee performance scores on a recent project. The scores are typically on a scale from 1 to 100. However, some employees have not yet submitted their self-assessments. In your spreadsheet, this is noted with text like "Pending." Additionally, a few employees are given an automated "Incomplete" or "Complete" flag based on project milestones.

We want to find the highest score recorded, but also ensure that any "Complete" flag is considered a valid score of 1, and any text indicating an incomplete score is treated as a 0, so it doesn't skew our maximum value.

Here is the data:

	Sales Rep	Sales Value/Status
	A	B
1	Alice	85
2	Bob	92
3	Charlie	78
4	David	Pending
5	Emily	95
6	Frank	Complete
7	Grace	Incomplete
8	Henry	90

The MAXA Function in Action

To find the maximum value in the "Performance Score" column, you would use the MAXA function like this:

Formula: MAXA(B1:B8)

Where B1:B8 is the range containing the performance scores.

How MAXA Evaluates the Data

The MAXA function would interpret the values in the range as follows:

85 is a number, so it's 85.
92 is a number, so it's 92.
78 is a number, so it's 78.
Pending is text, so it's treated as 0.
95 is a number, so it's 95.
Complete is text, which if evaluated as a boolean TRUE is a 1, but since it's a text string, it's treated as 0. Note: Some versions of spreadsheets may interpret "TRUE" or "FALSE" as a boolean, but other text is always 0. In this example, "Complete" is a text string, not a logical TRUE/FALSE, so it is treated as a 0. Let's assume for this example, the data is manually entered as text.
Incomplete is text, so it's treated as 0.
90 is a number, so it's 90.

The MAXA function would then look at this set of numbers: [85, 92, 78, 0, 95, 0, 0, 90].

Result

The highest number in that set is 95.

So, the result of the formula MAXA(B1:B8) would be 95.

This example shows how MAXA is useful for finding the maximum numerical value in a range that contains a mix of standard numbers and non-numerical data that you want to be treated as 0. If you had used the MAX function instead, it would have returned an error or ignored the non-numerical values, which might not be what you want.

Result for MAXA(B1:B8):

95