MAX vs Top 1 - which is better?

Question

I had to review some code, and came across something that someone did, and can\'t think of a reason why my way is better and it probably isn\'t, so, which is better/safer/mo

Answer 1

They are different queries.

The first one returns many records (the biggest a_date for each event_id found within a_primary_key = 5)

The second one returns one record (the smallest a_date found within a_primary_key = 5).