HAVING without GROUP BY

Question

• Does the following make sense in terms of normal(!) SQL?
• What minor adjustments are required to bring something into compliance with the standard, if it isn't already?
• If the first row contains the maximum value for NumberOfPages, MySQL behaves as expected.

SELECT * FROM Book HAVING NumberOfPages = MAX(NumberOfPages)

The following is written in the standard:

HAVING <search condition>

• Let G be the set consisting of every column referenced by a <column reference> contained in the <group by clause>.
• Each column reference directly contained in the <search condition> shall be one of the following:
  1. An unambiguous reference to a column that is functionally dependent on G.
  2. An outer reference.

Answer 1

When GROUP BY is not used, HAVING behaves like a WHERE clause.” The difference between where and having: WHERE filters ROWS while HAVING filters groups.

SELECT SUM(spending) as totSpending
FROM militaryspending
HAVING SUM(spending) > 200000;

Output:

totSpending
1699154.3