Sql server 2008 如何在SQL中选择每列最大值？

在SQL Server中，我有一个整数、日期时间和字符串的列表。比如说,

number  datetime             string
6       2011-09-22 12:34:56  nameOne
6       2011-09-22 1:23:45   nameOne
6       2011-09-22 2:34:56   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 3:45:01   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 4:56:01   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 5:01:23   nameOne
7       2011-09-21 12:34:56  nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 1:23:45   nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 2:34:56   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 3:45:01   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 4:56:01   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 5:01:23   nameTwo

declare @max int
declare my_cursor cursor fast_forward for
    select distinct string
    from table
open my_cursor
fetch next from my_cursor into @string
while @@fetch_status = 0
begin
    set @max = (select max(number) from table where string = @string)
    select * from table where number = @max
    fetch next from my_cursor into @string
end
close my_cursor
deallocate my_cursor

我想编写一个SQL语句，只输出每个字符串的最大行数。在这个例子中

number  datetime             string
6       2011-09-22 12:34:56  nameOne
6       2011-09-22 1:23:45   nameOne
6       2011-09-22 2:34:56   nameOne
7       2011-09-21 12:34:56  nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 1:23:45   nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 2:34:56   nameTwo

我知道我可以循环字符串列中的每个字符串，然后获取该字符串的最大值，然后选择与该最大值匹配的行。比如说,

number  datetime             string
6       2011-09-22 12:34:56  nameOne
6       2011-09-22 1:23:45   nameOne
6       2011-09-22 2:34:56   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 3:45:01   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 4:56:01   nameOne
5       2011-09-22 5:01:23   nameOne
7       2011-09-21 12:34:56  nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 1:23:45   nameTwo
7       2011-09-21 2:34:56   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 3:45:01   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 4:56:01   nameTwo
4       2011-09-21 5:01:23   nameTwo

declare @max int
declare my_cursor cursor fast_forward for
    select distinct string
    from table
open my_cursor
fetch next from my_cursor into @string
while @@fetch_status = 0
begin
    set @max = (select max(number) from table where string = @string)
    select * from table where number = @max
    fetch next from my_cursor into @string
end
close my_cursor
deallocate my_cursor

但是，我想知道是否有一种方法可以在不使用循环的情况下完成此任务（例如，通过使用聚合函数和分组）