diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 1f9dcb00..90bfa04d 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,17 +1,15 @@
-- various failures in make check
-
-  setting x in vipsmin to nonsense
-
-  also vipsmax?
-
-
-
 - move ifthenelse / blend to conversion? or arithmetic?
 
+  not ternary arithmetic ops since the condition image is always ucharo
+
+  maybe a subclass of binary, since the then & else images do need to be
+  upcast to match
 
 
 
-- try an area operation, like conv, VipsArea? oops no
+
+- try an area operation, like conv, VipsArea? oops no haha what name should we
+  use?
 
 
 
diff --git a/libvips/arithmetic/max.c b/libvips/arithmetic/max.c
index bf9b7e8f..8ce4aa10 100644
--- a/libvips/arithmetic/max.c
+++ b/libvips/arithmetic/max.c
@@ -150,17 +150,17 @@ static int
 vips_max_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 {
 	VipsMax *global = (VipsMax *) statistic;
-	VipsMax *max = (VipsMax *) seq;
+	VipsMax *local = (VipsMax *) seq;
 
-	if( max->set &&
-		(!global->set || max->max > global->max) ) {
-		global->max = max->max;
-		global->x = max->x;
-		global->y = max->y;
+	if( local->set &&
+		(!global->set || local->max > global->max) ) {
+		global->max = local->max;
+		global->x = local->x;
+		global->y = local->y;
 		global->set = TRUE;
 	}
 
-	g_free( max );
+	g_free( local );
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
@@ -173,8 +173,11 @@ vips_max_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( max->set ) \
 		m = max->max; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0]; \
+		max->x = x; \
+		max->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		if( p[i] > m ) { \
@@ -196,8 +199,11 @@ vips_max_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( max->set ) \
 		m = max->max; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0]; \
+		max->x = x; \
+		max->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		if( p[i] > m ) { \
@@ -221,8 +227,11 @@ vips_max_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( max->set ) \
 		m = max->max; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0] * p[0] + p[1] * p[1]; \
+		max->x = x; \
+		max->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		double mod; \
diff --git a/libvips/arithmetic/min.c b/libvips/arithmetic/min.c
index be91d76b..3e20168d 100644
--- a/libvips/arithmetic/min.c
+++ b/libvips/arithmetic/min.c
@@ -173,8 +173,11 @@ vips_min_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( min->set ) \
 		m = min->min; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0]; \
+		min->x = x; \
+		min->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		if( p[i] < m ) { \
@@ -196,8 +199,11 @@ vips_min_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( min->set ) \
 		m = min->min; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0]; \
+		min->x = x; \
+		min->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		if( p[i] < m ) { \
@@ -221,8 +227,11 @@ vips_min_stop( VipsStatistic *statistic, void *seq )
 	\
 	if( min->set ) \
 		m = min->min; \
-	else \
+	else { \
 		m = p[0] * p[0] + p[1] * p[1]; \
+		min->x = x; \
+		min->y = y; \
+	} \
 	\
 	for( i = 0; i < sz; i++ ) { \
 		double mod; \