MAX
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Statistical · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the MAX function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when MAX’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-07-29 |
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MAX(A1:A5) | Largest value in a simple numeric range | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A4) | Largest of a set that includes negative numbers | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A3) | Text values in the range are ignored, not treated as 0 | 5 | 5ProvenanceMAX skips non-numeric text cells entirely rather than erroring or treating them as 0 |
Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A5) | A range with no numeric values at all returns 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMAX of an empty/all-blank range is documented to return 0 |
Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MAX(A1:A5) | Largest value in a simple numeric range | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A4) | Largest of a set that includes negative numbers | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A3) | Text values in the range are ignored, not treated as 0 | 5 | 5ProvenanceMAX skips non-numeric text cells entirely rather than erroring or treating them as 0 |
Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A5) | A range with no numeric values at all returns 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMAX of an empty/all-blank range is documented to return 0 |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MAX(A1:A5) | Largest value in a simple numeric range | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A4) | Largest of a set that includes negative numbers | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A3) | Text values in the range are ignored, not treated as 0 | 5 | 5ProvenanceMAX skips non-numeric text cells entirely rather than erroring or treating them as 0 |
Matched |
| =MAX(A1:A5) | A range with no numeric values at all returns 0 | 0 | 0ProvenanceMAX of an empty/all-blank range is documented to return 0 |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
- How to calculate overtime pay
- How to calculate the range (max minus min)
- How to clamp (limit) a value between a minimum and maximum
- How to find the latest (or earliest) date in a range
- How to find the most common text value (mode for text)
- How to find the label that goes with the highest value
- How to find the position of the maximum value
- How to normalize data to a 0-1 scale
- How to track a running maximum (record high so far)
Where MAX behaves differently
- MAXA, MINA, AVERAGEA, VARPA vs MAX, MIN, AVERAGE, VAR.P
The A-variants count text as 0 and TRUE as 1; the plain ones ignore them. Executed: LibreOffice implements all four A-variants faithfully, but its VAR.P returns 8.2222 on {4, 8, TRUE} where Microsoft documents 4 and Google Sheets returns 4 - a silent wrong number in all four builds tested.