Finding Maximum Values Using MAX, MAXA and MAXX in DAX

What Are MAX, MAXA and MAXX in DAX?

DAX provides different functions for finding the largest value from data.
The three functions used in this query are MAX,
MAXA, and MAXX.

Although all three are related to finding maximum values, they work in
different ways. MAX works directly with a column,
MAXA evaluates a column while also handling logical values,
and MAXX evaluates an expression row by row before finding
the maximum result.

1. Displaying the Maximum Value Query Result

Query

EVALUATE
    MaxMinTable

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: EVALUATE
EVALUATE is used to return a table expression as the result
of a DAX query.

Step 2: MaxMinTable
MaxMinTable is the table being returned. This allows us to
inspect the source data before applying the maximum-value calculations.

What will you get?

You will see the rows and columns available in MaxMinTable.
The exact values depend on the practice data used with this query.

2. Finding the Maximum Value Using MAX

Query

MAX(MaxMinTable[Column A])

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: MAX
The MAX function returns the largest value from a column.

Step 2: MaxMinTable[Column A]
This specifies the column from which DAX should find the maximum value.

Step 3: Result
DAX evaluates the values in Column A and returns the
highest value found in that column.

ROW(
    "Col A", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column A])
)

Here, ROW creates a one-row table and names the calculated
result Col A.

3. Finding the Maximum Value Using MAXA

Query

MAXA(MaxMinTable[Column D])

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: MAXA
MAXA returns the largest value from a column while evaluating
logical values as part of the calculation.

Step 2: MaxMinTable[Column D]
The expression specifies Column D as the column to evaluate.

Step 3: Result
DAX evaluates the values in the column and returns the maximum result.

ROW(
    "Col D", MAXA(MaxMinTable[Column D])
)

The result is returned as a column named Col D in the
one-row result generated by ROW.

4. Finding the Maximum Value Using MAX

Query

MAX(MaxMinTable[Column E])

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Specify the column
MaxMinTable[Column E] identifies the column whose maximum
value we want to find.

Step 2: Apply MAX
MAX compares the values in Column E and
returns the largest value.

ROW(
    "Col E", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column E])
)

5. Finding the Maximum Calculated Result Using MAXX

Query

MAXX(
    MaxMinTable,
    [Column A] + [Column B]
)

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: MAXX
MAXX is an iterator function. It evaluates an expression
for every row of a table and then returns the highest result.

Step 2: MaxMinTable
This is the table over which MAXX iterates.

Step 3: [Column A] + [Column B]
For each row, DAX adds the value from Column A to the value
from Column B.

Step 4: Find the maximum calculated value
After calculating Column A + Column B for every row,
MAXX returns the highest calculated result.

This is different from simply finding the maximum value of
Column A or Column B. Here, the maximum is
calculated from a row-level expression.

ROW(
    "Max Difference",
    MAXX(MaxMinTable, [Column A] + [Column B])
)

6. Understanding ROW in This Query

Query

ROW(
    "Col A", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column A]),
    "Col D", MAXA(MaxMinTable[Column D]),
    "Col E", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column E]),
    "Max Difference", MAXX(MaxMinTable, [Column A] + [Column B])
)

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: ROW
ROW creates a single-row table containing the expressions
and names supplied to it.

Step 2: “Col A”
The first output column contains the maximum value from
MaxMinTable[Column A].

Step 3: “Col D”
The second output column contains the maximum result from
MAXA(MaxMinTable[Column D]).

Step 4: “Col E”
The third output column contains the maximum value from
MaxMinTable[Column E].

Step 5: “Max Difference”
The fourth output column contains the maximum row-level result produced by
adding Column A and Column B for every row.

Result structure

The actual numeric values depend on the data stored in
MaxMinTable.

MAX vs MAXA vs MAXX

Important Notes

1. MAX works directly with a column

When you already have the column containing the values you want to compare,
MAX provides a direct way to return the largest value.

2. MAXA is different from MAX

MAXA is designed to evaluate logical values as part of its
calculation. This makes it different from the standard numeric
MAX function.

3. MAXX evaluates an expression row by row

MAXX is especially useful when the value you want to
maximize does not already exist as a column. You can create the value
through an expression for each row.

4. The table argument comes first in MAXX

MAXX(
    <Table>,
    <Expression>
)

The first argument defines the table to iterate over, while the second
argument defines the expression to evaluate for each row.

5. ROW creates the final single-row result

In this query, ROW combines multiple calculated results
into a single-row table, making it convenient to display several maximum
calculations together.

EVALUATE
ROW(
    "Max A", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column A]),
    "Max B", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column B]),
    "Max C", MAX(MaxMinTable[Column C]),
    "Max A + B", MAXX(
        MaxMinTable,
        [Column A] + [Column B]
    )
)

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