Max() not working right...

[Greenmethod]

$highest_po_result = mysql_query("SELECT po_num FROM `inventory`");
$high_po = mysql_fetch_array($highest_po_result);
echo 'max: ' . max($high_po) . '<br>';
echo 'num rows: ' . mysql_num_rows($highest_po_result) . '<br>';
if (0 == mysql_num_rows($highest_po_result)){
echo 'newpo';
$new_po = 1;
}
else {
$new_po = max($high_po);
$new_po = $new_po+1;
}

I have the exact code written on another page and it works fine, but this just gives me max is 1 and num_rows is the actual number of rows every time.

I don't know what else I can do to troubleshoot.. any ideas?

[nico_swd]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

You know that you're working with just one single row from the database, right?



Are you trying to fetch the highest "po_num" from this table? Maybe you sould consider something like this:

SELECT po_num FROM `inventory` ORDER BY po_num DESC LIMIT 1

[omgitsfletch]

And if you still need the number of items:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `inventory`