Here's the output of an actual debug session. Can anybody explain this? 
  DB<10> p $#l
27

  DB<11> p $#F
23

  DB<12> p max($#l, $#F)
23

  DB<13> p max(27,23)
27

  DB<14> p 0+$#l
27

  DB<15> p max(0+$#l, $#F)
27

  DB<16> p max($#l, 0+$#F)
23

[download]
So the second-to-last line tells me the solution, but I have no clue what the actual problem is. For what it's worth, I'm using 64-bit Activestate Perl 5.20.

Edit: The max is from List::Util.

In reply to Max of 23 and 27 is 23? by luxgladius

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.