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Activity 5: Learn the MAX/MIN Command

Workshop Resources
Pre-requisite: SELECT Command, WHERE Command
Difficulty: Intermediate

Task 5: Find the Tallest Ladder To Get To Their Leader

You have discovered that the planet’s leader is in a hut on the tallest hill but to get to it, you need to find the largest ladder in the Capital of Fun!

The Galactic Federation has sent you four new SQL commands to play around with! Let’s take a look at them!

What the commands do:

Explain


Column Property: MAX() is used to look for the largest value in a column. MIN() is the opposite of MAX() and will look for the smallest value in a column. You can replace any word inside the parenthesis with another column name to get the largest or smallest value of that column.

IN NOT

Notice how the items specified inside IN() and NOT IN() are surrounded by single quotation marks but the ones inside MAX() and MIN() are not.


Condition:

  • IN() and NOT IN() are used hand in hand with the WHERE command we learned in activity 2. IN() is part of the condition of a SQL command and is helpful when you want to show some columns but not all of them.

  • NOT IN() is the opposite of IN(). Instead of choosing what to show like IN(), NOT IN() will show all the columns you did not choose inside the parenthesis.

  • You can use commas inside the parenthesis to choose more than one column to show or not show.

  • Using only 1 input inside IN() is equivalent to using =:

Ex. column_name IN('obejct_in_column'); is the same as column_name = 'obejct_in_column';

Now use what you learned! Using the database called ‘items’ with columns labeled ‘object’ and ‘height’, find the tallest ’ladder’.

You can display the database using the command from activity 1.

  • Hint 1: Remember the advice from the Galactic Federation: SELECT [column/column property] FROM [database] [optional condition];

  • Hint 2: Column property: Do you need to use MAX() or MIN() to find the tallest ladder?

  • Hint 3: Condition: WHERE [column_name] [IN/NOT IN];

  • Hint 4: Do you need to use IN() or NOT IN() to show the ’ladder'?

  • Hint 5: What symbol do you need at the end of a SQL command?

  • BONUS: Try to use multiple inputs inside IN() or NOT IN() when searching for the ladder
  • This command is very powerful in searching multiple types of objects

Remember: You can query the database multiple times using everything you have learnt till now to find out the color of the tallest ladder.

Type command here!

ERROR INVALID INPUT>

Choose and drag the correct ladder onto the hill to continue your adventure!

The correct ladder will be highlighted in green.