Question

Yesterday i had a question in an interview which i thought i could find answers here in SO…

How to find 3rd max value of a column using MAX function in sql server?

Consider the column to be

Wages
20000
15000
10000
45000
50000

Answer 1

Very UGLY but only using MAX

DECLARE @Table TABLE(
        Wages FLOAT
)

INSERT INTO @Table SELECT 20000 
INSERT INTO @Table SELECT 15000 
INSERT INTO @Table SELECT 10000
INSERT INTO @Table SELECT 45000
INSERT INTO @Table SELECT 50000

SELECT  MAX(Wages)
FROM    @Table WHERE Wages < (
                        SELECT  MAX(Wages)
                        FROM    @Table WHERE Wages < (
                                                SELECT  MAX(Wages)
                                                FROM    @Table)
                                )

Personally I would have gone with

SELECT  *
FROM    (
            SELECT  *,
                    ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY Wages DESC) RowID
            FROM    @Table 
        ) sub
WHERE   RowID = 3

And then asked the interviewer why they would ever want a solution using MAX, when they can use built in functionality.