I'm doing a little digging and looking for a explanation on how SQL server evaluates MIN(Varchar). I found this remark in BOL: MIN finds the lowest value in the collating sequence defined in the underlying database So if I have a table that has one row with the following values: Data AA AB AC Doing a SELECT MIN(DATA) would return back AA. I just want to understand the why behind this and understand the BOL a little better. Thanks!