You've got one line of code backwards. Your if statement is effectively saying that if item is greater than Max, set item to Max. You need to flip that to say if item is greater than Max, set Max to item.
if item > Max:
Max = item
return Max
Also, I'm not an expert in Python, but i think you need to change the List inside your function to match the parameter name, in this case args.
Answer from Kadima on Stack OverflowW3Schools
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Python max() Function
Python Examples Python Compiler ... Q&A Python Training ... The max() function returns the item with the highest value, or the item with the highest value in an iterable....
GeeksforGeeks
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Python - max() function - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - Python max() function returns the largest item in an iterable or the largest of two or more arguments.
Is max() an in-built function in Python?
Yes, max() is an in-built function in Python.
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max() Function in Python: Syntax, Parameters & Examples
What is the use of the max() and min() functions in Python?
We use Python's max() and min() functions to get the maximum or minimum object out of a set of objects or max/min object out of objects in a given iterable.
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max() Function in Python: Syntax, Parameters & Examples
What is the difference between the Python max() and min() functions?
Both compare items or items within an iterable on some basis and return a value. But the max() function in Python returns the max value after those comparisons, and the min() function returns the minimum value.
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max() Function in Python: Syntax, Parameters & Examples
15:22
Starting With Python's min() and max() Functions - YouTube
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Mastering the min() and max() Functions in Python - YouTube
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Breaking Math With Python - MAX Function - YouTube
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Using Python's min() and max() (Overview) (Video) โ Real Python
16:03
Learn Python min() and max() functions - YouTube
Medium
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Six ways to find max value of a list in Python | by Tomasz Wฤ
siลski | Medium
November 16, 2016 - def max(arr): max_ = arr[0] for item in arr: if item > max_: max_ = item return max_ Not to much to write aboutโฆ This is the simplest implementation, since itโs written in Python it will be much slower than using the builtin max() which is implemented in C.
Real Python
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max() | Pythonโs Built-in Functions โ Real Python
The built-in max() function allows you to find the largest values in an iterable or among multiple arguments.
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Python max() Function โ Syntax, key Parameter & Examples
August 10, 2026 - This course is dedicated to core Python skills that will give you a solid base and allow you to pursue any further direction, be it Backend Development or Data Science. ... The max() function in Python is commonly employed to identify the value from a provided collection of elements.
Top answer 1 of 3
1
You've got one line of code backwards. Your if statement is effectively saying that if item is greater than Max, set item to Max. You need to flip that to say if item is greater than Max, set Max to item.
if item > Max:
Max = item
return Max
Also, I'm not an expert in Python, but i think you need to change the List inside your function to match the parameter name, in this case args.
2 of 3
1
*args = list of arguments -as positional arguments
You are passing a list as an argument here. So your code should look something like this -
def maximum(nums):
Max = 0
for item in nums:
if item > Max:
Max=item
return Max
List = [1,5,8,77,24,95]
print maximum(List)
This would give you the result : 95.
On the other hand you can use the max built in function to get the maximum number in the list.
print max(List)
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max() Function in Python: Syntax, Parameters & Examples
April 1, 2026 - It determines the result by comparing values using the default > and < operators, and if there are multiple equal maximum values, it returns the first one it encounters. The Python max function is used in two common ways: you can pass multiple values directly, or you can pass a single iterable such as a list, tuple, or string.
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How to use Python max() built-in function - YouTube
In this beginner's Python tutorial, you will learn how to use the max() built-in Python function. The max() function returns the highest element value in a P...
Published: July 13, 2020
Views: 600
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Python max()
max() returns the largest element from an iterable. ... If the items in an iterable are strings, the largest item (ordered alphabetically) is returned. languages = ["Python", "C Programming", "Java", "JavaScript"]
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Python max() function - ThePythonGuru.com
If max() is called with an iterable, it returns the largest item in it.
Python
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Built-in Functions โ Python 3.14.8 documentation
If multiple items are maximal, the function returns the first one encountered.
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Python Min and Max: The Ultimate Guide | Career Karma
December 1, 2023 - The max() method then calculated which of these names comes last alphabetically and returned that name to the program. Finally, our code printed out a message that stated the name that appears last in the alphabet. Often, when youโre working with lists or strings, youโll want to find the lowest or highest value that appears in that list or string. The Python min() and max() methods can be used to do so.
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r/learnpython on Reddit: What's wrong with the max module of python ?
August 2, 2024 -
The answer of this code is wrong. The output is supposed to be 25 but for some reason it's 9.
Code:
list=['9', '12', '8', '25', '23']
biggest_number=max(list)
print(biggest_number)
I tried the following code with the following input in different IDE's but every single one of them gave the same answer, maybe the max module is taking the 9 as 90. Any comments or help would be appreciated to solve this issue.
Top answer 1 of 5
131
These are strings. Strings are always compared lexicographically. If you want to compare numerically, use numbers, ie ints.
2 of 5
93
You've gotten good answers, but I'm going to give you some advice that will serve you well: Everyone occasionally gets to a point where they think something in the standard library or a ubiquitously used library is obviously broken. It's not broken. You're the problem. Go back and validate your assumptions. Take a break and come back. 99.99999% of the time you'll find a simple mistake in your own code. This happens to and the advice applies to every developer, at every experience level.
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Python max() - Find Maximum Value
September 27, 2024 - The max() function in Python is a built-in utility that identifies the maximum value among the provided arguments or elements within an iterable.
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Python List max() Method
The Python List max() method compares the elements of the list and returns the maximum valued element. If the elements in the list are numbers, the comparison is done numerically; but if the list contains strings, the comparison is done
Top answer 1 of 7
203
In Python 3.4+, you can use default keyword argument:
>>> max([], default=99)
99
In lower version, you can use or:
>>> max([] or [99])
99
NOTE: The second approach does not work for all iterables. especially for iterator that yield nothing but considered truth value.
>>> max(iter([]) or 0)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: max() arg is an empty sequence
2 of 7
13
In versions of Python older than 3.4 you can use itertools.chain() to add another value to the possibly empty sequence. This will handle any empty iterable but note that it is not precisely the same as supplying the default argument as the extra value is always included:
>>> from itertools import chain
>>> max(chain([42], []))
42
But in Python 3.4, the default is ignored if the sequence isn't empty:
>>> max([3], default=42)
3
Python Reference
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max โ Python Reference (The Right Way) 0.1 documentation
Returns the largest item in an iterable or the largest of two or more arguments ยท max (collection[, key])
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Python max() Function | All Use Cases With Code Examples
February 12, 2025 - In Python programming, objects ... attributes and methods. The max function can be used to compare such objects to find the one with the maximum value/ largest item based on specified criteria....
GeeksforGeeks
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Python List max() Method - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - max() function in Python is a built-in function that finds and returns the largest element from the list.
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Python max() Function
The Python max() function is used to retrieve the largest element from the specified iterable. Finding the maximum of two given numbers is one of the usual calculations we perform.