How can you find the maximum value in a range of cells?

The MAX() function is the appropriate choice for finding the maximum value in a range of cells in Excel. This function takes one or more numerical arguments and returns the largest number within the specified range. For instance, if you have a series of numbers in cells A1 through A10, using the formula =MAX(A1:A10) will yield the highest value from that range.

Other functions in the provided options serve different purposes. For example, HIGH() is not a standard function in Excel, so it cannot be used for any calculations. CEILING() is designed to round a number up, away from zero, to the nearest multiple of significance, which does not directly help in identifying the maximum value of a dataset. Similarly, TOP() is not recognized in Excel as a valid function to retrieve the maximum value from a range. Therefore, using MAX() is the correct approach when looking to determine the maximum value from a set of data in Excel.