Use of max in MATH

Question

I am trying to find the max value of two floating point numbers. Please see code. I am not sure why I get the error(symbol : method max (float,float)) do I have to call this in its own method? Thank you for the help, drumz.
import java.awt.Graphics;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Lab3_7 extends JApplet{
     float largest;                //variable for largest answer
     public void init(){
          String firstNumber;     //first string entered by user
          String secondNumber; //second string entered by user
          float number1;               //variable for conversion of user input
          float number2;               //variable for conversion of user input
          // get numbers from user
          firstNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter first floating point number");
          secondNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter second floating point number");
          //Convert numbers to floating point variables for calculations
          number1 = Float.parseFloat (firstNumber);
          number2 = Float.parseFloat (secondNumber);
          //Calculate either the largest number or that both numbers are equal.
          largest = Object max(number1,number2);
     public void paint( Graphics g ){
          super.paint( g );
          g.drawString ( "largest number is" + largest, 25, 25 );
}          

Answer 1

import java.awt.Graphics;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Lab3_7 extends JApplet{
float largest; //variable for largest answer
public void init(){
String firstNumber; //first string entered by user
String secondNumber; //second string entered by user
float number1; //variable for conversion of user input
float number2; //variable for conversion of user input
// get numbers from user
firstNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter first floating point number");
secondNumber = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter second floating point number");
//Convert numbers to floating point variables for calculations
number1 = Float.parseFloat (firstNumber);
number2 = Float.parseFloat (secondNumber);
//Calculate either the largest number or that both numbers are equal.
largest = Math.max(number1,number2);
public void paint( Graphics g ){
super.paint( g );
g.drawString ( "largest number is" + largest, 25, 25 );
}