Difference between supremum and maximum

A maximum of a set must be an element of the set. A supremum need not be.

Explicitly, if $X$ is a (partially) ordered set, and $S$ is a subset, then an element $s_0$ is the supremum of $S$ if and only if:

1. $s\leq s_0$ for all $s\in S$; and
2. If $t\in X$ is such that $s\leq t$ for all $s\in S$, then $s_0\leq t$.

By contrast, an element $m$ is the maximum of $S$ if and only if:

1. $s\leq m$ for all $s\in S$; and
2. $m\in S$.

Note that if $S$ has a maximum, then the maximum must be the supremum: indeed, if $t\in X$ is such that $s\leq t$ for all $s\in S$, then in particular $m\in S$, so $m\leq t$, proving that $m$ satisfies the conditions to be the supremum.

But it is possible for a set to have a supremum but not a maximum. For instance, in the real numbers, the set of all negative numbers does not have a maximum: there is no negative number $m$ with the property that $n\leq m$ for all negative numbers $n$. However, the set of all negative numbers does have a supremum: $0$ is the supremum of the set of negative numbers. Indeed, $a\leq 0$ for all negative numbers $a$; and if $a\leq b$ for all negative numbers $a$, then $0\leq b$.

The full relationship between supremum and maximum is:

1. If $S$ has a maximum $m$, then $S$ also has a supremum and in fact $m$ is also a supremum of $S$.
2. Conversely, if $S$ has a supremum $s$, then $S$ has a maximum if and only if $s\in S$, in which case the maximum is also $s$.

In particular, if a set has both a supremum and a maximum, then they are the same element. The set may also have neither a supremum nor a maximum (e.g., the rationals as a subset of the reals). But if it has only one them, then it has a supremum which is not a maximum and is not in the set.