Oracle:ottenere il massimo valore di un gruppo?

Tenderei a usare funzioni analitiche

SELECT monitor_id,
       host_name,
       calibration_date,
       value
  FROM (SELECT b.monitor_id,
               b.host_name,
               a.calibration_date,
               a.value,
               rank() over (partition by b.monitor_id order by a.calibration_date desc) rnk
          FROM table_name a,
               table_name2 b
         WHERE a.some_key = b.some_key)
 WHERE rnk = 1

Potresti anche utilizzare sottoquery correlate anche se questo sarà meno efficiente

SELECT monitor_id,
       calibration_date,
       value
  FROM table_name a
 WHERE a.calibration_date = (SELECT MAX(b.calibration_date)
                               FROM table_name b
                              WHERE a.monitor_id = b.monitor_id)