Size of Matrix OpenCV

cv:Mat mat;
int rows = mat.rows;
int cols = mat.cols;

cv::Size s = mat.size();
rows = s.height;
cols = s.width;

Note that apart from rows and columns there is a number of channels and type. When it is clear what type is, the channels can act as an extra dimension as in CV_8UC3 so you would address a matrix as

uchar a = M.at<Vec3b>(y, x)[i];

So the size in terms of elements of elementary type is M.rows * M.cols * M.cn

To find the max element one can use

Mat src;
double minVal, maxVal;
minMaxLoc(src, &minVal, &maxVal);