SQL Absolute value across columns

select max(abs(mycol)) from mytbl

select max(abs(mycol)) from mytbl

select n+abs(mycol)
  from zzz
 where abs(mycol)=(select max(abs(mycol)) from mytbl);

select word, big from myTable order by abs(big)

select sum(abs(big)) as sumbig,
       sum(abs(expensive)) as sumexpensive,
       sum(abs(smart)) as sumsmart,
       sum(abs(fast)) as sumfast
  from MyTable;

word property value

select word, 'big' as property, big as value from soquestion
UNION ALLL
select word, 'expensive', expensive from soquestion
UNION ALL
...

select word, max(value),
    (select property from soquestion t2
     where t1.word = t2.word and t2.value = max(t1.value))
from soquestion t1
group by word

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sqlite3

conn = sqlite3.connect('so_question.sqlite')
cur = conn.cursor()

cur.execute('create table soquestion (word, big, expensive, smart, fast)')
cur.execute("insert into soquestion values ('dog', 9, -10, -20, 4)")
cur.execute("insert into soquestion values ('professor', 2, 4, 40, -7)")
cur.execute("insert into soquestion values ('ferrari', 7, 50, 0, 48)")
cur.execute("insert into soquestion values ('alaska', 10, 0, 1, 0)")
cur.execute("insert into soquestion values ('gnat', -3, 0, 0, 0)")

cur.execute("select * from soquestion")
all = cur.fetchall()

definition_list = ['word', 'big', 'expensive', 'smart', 'fast']

def show_distinct(db_tuple, def_list=definition_list):
    minimum = min(db_tuple[1:])
    maximum = max(db_tuple[1:])
    if abs(minimum) > maximum:
    	print db_tuple[0], 'is not', def_list[list(db_tuple).index(minimum)]
    elif maximum > abs(minimum):
    	print db_tuple[0], 'is', def_list[list(db_tuple).index(maximum)]
    else:
    	print 'no distinct value'

for item in all:
    show_distinct(item)