diff --git a/Doc/library/functions.rst b/Doc/library/functions.rst
--- a/Doc/library/functions.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/functions.rst
@@ -762,17 +762,17 @@ are always available.  They are listed h
 .. function:: max(iterable, *[, default, key])
               max(arg1, arg2, *args[, key])
 
    Return the largest item in an iterable or the largest of two or more
    arguments.
 
    If one positional argument is provided, it should be an :term:`iterable`.
    The largest item in the iterable is returned.  If two or more positional
-   arguments are provided, the smallest of the positional arguments is
+   arguments are provided, the greatest of the positional arguments is
    returned.
 
    There are two optional keyword-only arguments. The *key* argument specifies
    a one-argument ordering function like that used for :meth:`list.sort`. The
    *default* argument specifies an object to return if the provided iterable is
    empty. If the iterable is empty and *default* is not provided, a
    :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
 
diff --git a/Python/bltinmodule.c b/Python/bltinmodule.c
--- a/Python/bltinmodule.c
+++ b/Python/bltinmodule.c
@@ -1449,34 +1449,38 @@ Fail_it:
 
 static PyObject *
 builtin_min(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     return min_max(args, kwds, Py_LT);
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(min_doc,
-"min(iterable[, key=func]) -> value\n\
-min(a, b, c, ...[, key=func]) -> value\n\
+"min(iterable, *[, default=obj, key=func]) -> value\n\
+min(arg1, arg2, *args, *[, key=func]) -> value\n\
 \n\
-With a single iterable argument, return its smallest item.\n\
+With a single iterable argument, return its smallest item. The\n\
+default keyword-only argument specifies an object to return if\n\
+the provided iterable is empty.\n\
 With two or more arguments, return the smallest argument.");
 
 
 static PyObject *
 builtin_max(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     return min_max(args, kwds, Py_GT);
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(max_doc,
-"max(iterable[, key=func]) -> value\n\
-max(a, b, c, ...[, key=func]) -> value\n\
+"max(iterable, *[, default=obj, key=func]) -> value\n\
+max(arg1, arg2, *args, *[, key=func]) -> value\n\
 \n\
-With a single iterable argument, return its largest item.\n\
+With a single iterable argument, return its biggest item. The\n\
+default keyword-only argument specifies an object to return if\n\
+the provided iterable is empty.\n\
 With two or more arguments, return the largest argument.");
 
 
 static PyObject *
 builtin_oct(PyObject *self, PyObject *v)
 {
     return PyNumber_ToBase(v, 8);
 }