A computer-implemented method comprising obtaining a floating point instruction to be executed, the instruction to perform a comparison of a first value and a second value, and executing the instruction in a computing environment, the method being characterized by: executing the instruction, the instruction being a single architected instruction (300, 320, 350) that supports, at least, various maximum functions or various minimum functions, the various maximum functions comprising at least a plurality of the following: IEEE MaxNum, Java Math.Max(), C-Style Max Macro, C++ Algorithm.max(), fmax(), IEEE MaxNumMag, Java Math.Max() of absolute values, C-Style Max Macro of absolute values, C++ Algorithm.max() of absolute values and fmax() of absolute values, and the various minimum functions comprising at least a plurality of the following: IEEE MinNum, Java Math.Min(), C-Style Min Macro, C++ Algorithm.min(), fmin(), IEEE MinNum of absolute values, Java Math.Min() of absolute values, C-Style Min Macro of absolute values, C++ Algorithm.min() of absolute values and fmin() of absolute values, the executing including: determining, based on a control field (309, 329, 359) of the instruction, a compare function to be performed, wherein the compare function is one of the various maximum functions or the various minimum functions configured for the instruction, and wherein the compare function has a plurality of compare options particular for the compare function; selecting, from the plurality of compare options for the compare function, a compare option corresponding to the first value and the second value to be compared; comparing the first value and the second value using the compare option to obtain a result, the result specific for the compare option selected for the compare function indicated by the control field of the instruction; and placing the result in a selected location, the result to be used in processing within the computing environment. IEEE MaxNum, Java Math.Max(), C-Style Max Macro, C++ Algorithm.max(), fmax(), IEEE MaxNumMag, Java Math.Max() of absolute values, C-Style Max Macro of absolute values, C++ Algorithm.max() of absolute values and fmax() of absolute values, and the various minimum functions comprising at least a plurality of the following: IEEE MinNum, Java Math.Min(), C-Style Min Macro, C++ Algorithm.min(), fmin(), IEEE MinNum of absolute values, Java Math.Min() of absolute values, C-Style Min Macro of absolute values, C++ Algorithm.min() of absolute values and fmin() of absolute values, the executing including: determining, based on a control field (309, 329, 359) of the instruction, a compare function to be performed, wherein the compare function is one of the various maximum functions or the various minimum functions configured for the instruction, and wherein the compare function has a plurality of compare options particular for the compare function; selecting, from the plurality of compare options for the compare function, a compare option corresponding to the first value and the second value to be compared; comparing the first value and the second value using the compare option to obtain a result, the result specific for the compare option selected for the compare function indicated by the control field of the instruction; and placing the result in a selected location, the result to be used in processing within the computing environment.