SQL MAX of multiple columns?

Question

How do you return 1 value per row of the max of several columns:

TableName

[Number, Date1, Date2, Date3, Cost]

I n

Answer 1

Well, you can use the CASE statement:

SELECT
    CASE
        WHEN Date1 >= Date2 AND Date1 >= Date3 THEN Date1
        WHEN Date2 >= Date1 AND Date2 >= Date3 THEN Date2
        WHEN Date3 >= Date1 AND Date3 >= Date2 THEN Date3
        ELSE                                        Date1
    END AS MostRecentDate

[For Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and above, you may consider Sven's simpler answer below.]