Returning a MAX() value to php

[chillnc]

I want to return the maximum high score as a php variable, but I'm not sure how to structure the result. Here's the query:

$query = "SELECT MAX(high_score) FROM tablename";
$result = mysql_query ($query);

And here's what isn't working (it's returning seemingly random numbers):
$high_score = $result;

What's the proper way to get the value? thanks--

[swampBoogie]

$r = mysql_fetch_row($result);
$high_score = $r[0];

[chillnc]

thanks swampBoogie,

I didn't know that you had to use mysql_fetch_row even when there was only one value being returned. I see now that it's just like an other query. thanks again-