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From: Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:07:22 -0600
Subject: Re: math functions with non numeric args
To: Python <python-list@python.org>
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On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 12:46 PM, Andrew Z <formisc@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> print max(-10, 10)
> 10
> print max('-10', 10)
> -10
>
> My guess max converts string to number bye decoding each of the characters
> to it's ASCII equivalent?

No, it leaves the types as they are but simply considers strings to be
"greater than" numbers.  As another poster stated, this is fixed in
Python 3, where strings and numbers are considered inorderable.