array formula for max of Pearson correlation

[Mika]

HI,

I´d like to "compact" the following column in a single cell value
using array formulas, if that is possible.

The columa A is filled with results of a certain function, and column
B has the Pearson correlation of that column in this way.

b1: =pearson(a1:a5,a2:a6)
b2: = pearson(a1:a5,a3:a7)
..
..
b100=pearson(a1:a5,a101:a105)

Then, what I really need is the max of those b cells, so
c1=max(b1:b100). The question is, can I avoid the creation of column
b, with something like :
c1={max(pearson(a1.....))}, if it is possible I can´t find the right
sintax...

Thanks in advance for your time
Mika