Javascript: What is max supposed to be initialised to? [closed]

Question

What should max be initialised to?

NUMBER_OF_INPUTS = 5;

var i;
var max;
var userInput; // Input from user

max = ???? ;
for(i=0; i<NUMBER_OF_INPUTS; i++)
{ userInput = parseInt(prompt('Enter input: '));
if (userInput > max)
max = userInput;
}

alert('Max: ' + max);

Answer 1

If the final value must come from the users, you could initialize it to:

max = Number.MIN_VALUE;

Otherwise, it should be initialized to a default value that would be valid in case all the inputs are less than it. In this case it's entirely dependant on your application.

Also, the test can be shortened to:

max = Math.max(max, userInput);