Finding the largest even number in list - prolog

Question

The point of this program is supposed to be to find the largest even number inside a list. For example, the query:
? - evenmax([1, 3, 9, 16, 25, -5, 18], X]
X = 18.
The way I thought to do this is to separate the list into two, one with just odd numbers and one with just even numbers. However, after doing that, I legitimately have no idea how to take the even-number list specifically and find the maximum integer in that.
Here is what I currently have:
seperate_list([], [], []).
separate_list([X|Xs], [X|Even], Odd) :-
0 is X mod 2,
separate_list(Xs, Even, Odd).
separate_list([X|Xs], Even, [X|Odd]) :-
1 is X mod 2,
separate_list(Xs, Even, Odd).
find_max([X|Xs], A, Max).
X > A,
find_max(Xs,X,Max).
find_max([X|Xs],A,Max) :-
X =< A,
find_max(Xs,A,Max).
find_max([],A,A).
I am still a newcomer to Prolog, so please bear with me...and I appreciate the help.

Answer 1

You could do it in one go. You can find the first even number in the list, then use this as seed and find the largest even number in the rest of the list.
But if you don't insist on doing it in a single traversal through the list, you can first collect all even numbers, then sort descending and take the first element of the sorted list.
evenmax(List, M) :-
include(even, List, Even),
sort(Even, Sorted),
reverse(Sorted, [M|_]).
even(E) :-
E rem 2 =:= 0.
If you want to see how include/2 is implemented, you can look here. Basically, this is a generalized and optimized version of the separate_list/3 that you have already defined in your question. sort/2 is a built-in, and reverse/2 is a library predicate, implementation is here.
There are many other ways to achieve the same, but for starters this should be good enough. You should ask more specific questions if you want more specific answers, for example:
What if the list has free variables?
What if you want to sort in decreasing order instead of sorting and then reversing?
How to do it in a single go?
and so on.

Answer 2

Sorry but... if you need the maximum (even) value... why don't you simply scan the list, memorizing the maximum (even) value?
The real problem that I see is: wich value return when there aren't even values.
In the following example I've used -1000 as minumum value (in case of no even values)
evenmax([], -1000). % or a adeguate minimum value
evenmax([H | T], EM) :-
K is H mod 2,
K == 0,
evenmax(T, EM0),
EM is max(H, EM0).
evenmax([H | T], EM) :-
K is H mod 2,
K == 1,
evenmax(T, EM).
-- EDIT --
Boris is right: the preceding is a bad solution.
Following his suggestions (thanks!) I've completely rewritten my solution. A little longer but (IMHO) a much better
evenmaxH([], 1, EM, EM).
evenmaxH([H | T], 0, _, EM) :-
0 =:= H mod 2,
evenmaxH(T, 1, H, EM).
evenmaxH([H | T], 1, M0, EM) :-
0 =:= H mod 2,
M1 is max(M0, H),
evenmaxH(T, 1, M1, EM).
evenmaxH([H | T], Found, M, EM) :-
1 =:= H mod 2,
evenmaxH(T, Found, M, EM).
evenmax(L, EM) :-
evenmaxH(L, 0, 0, EM).

Answer 3

I define evenmax like there is no member of list L which is even and is greater than X:
memb([X|_], X).
memb([_|T], X) :- memb(T,X).
even(X) :- R is X mod 2, R == 0.
evenmax(L, X) :- memb(L, X), even(X), not((memb(L, Y), even(Y), Y > X)), !.

Answer 4

There are already a number of good answers, but none that actually answers this part of your question:
I legitimately have no idea how to take the even-number list
specifically and find the maximum integer in that
Given your predicate definitions, it would be simply this:
evenmax(List, EvenMax) :-
separate_list(List, Evens, _Odds),
find_max(Evens, EvenMax).
For this find_max/2 you also need to add a tiny definition:
find_max([X|Xs], Max) :-
find_max(Xs, X, Max).
Finally, you have some typos in your code above: seperate vs. separate, and a . instead of :- in a clause head.