Will this find the maximum entry in column1? Are there other ways to get this maximum?
$sql = "SELECT `column1` FROM `table1` ORDER BY `column1` DESC LIMIT 1";
$sql = "SELECT MAX(`column1`) FROM `table1` LIMIT 1";
cpradio, your LIMIT is redundant 
Yes, yes, it is. As I wasn’t paying attention to my copy/paste, add MAX() remove unnecessary ORDER DESC… 