Limits at innity

&
Horizontal asymptotes

Tan Do

Vietnamese-German University

Lecture 8

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 1 / 13

 Content

In this lecture

Limits at innity
Horizontal asymptotes

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 2 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Limits at innity
x2 − 1
Example We examine when x becomes large.
x2 + 1

In this case, we write

x2 − 1 x2 − 1
lim = 1 and lim = 1.
x→∞ x2 + 1 x→−∞ x2 + 1
Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 3 / 13
 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Intuitive denition of a limit at positive innity

Let f be a function dened on (a, ∞). Then
lim f (x) = L
x→∞

if f (x) can be made arbitrarily close to L by requiring x to be suciently large.

We also write f (x) −→ L as x −→ ∞.

We read limx→∞ f (x) = L as:

the limit of f (x), as x approaches / becomes innity, is L
the limit of f (x), as x increases without bound, is L

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 4 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Intuitive denition of a limit at negative innity

Let f be a function dened on (−∞, a). Then
lim f (x) = L
x→−∞

if f (x) can be made arbitrarily close to L by requiring x to be suciently large

negative.
We also write f (x) −→ L as x −→ −∞.

We read limx→−∞ f (x) = L as:

the limit of f (x), as x approaches negative innity, is L

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 5 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Horizontal asymptotes
Denition The line y = L is called a horizontal asymptote of the curve
y = f (x) if either

lim f (x) = L or lim f (x) = L.

x→∞ x→−∞

Example y = tan−1 x has 2 horizontal asymptotes which are y = − π2 and

y = π2 since
π π
lim tan−1 x = − and lim tan−1 x = .
x→−∞ 2 x→∞ 2

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 6 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Example Evaluate
3x2 − x − 2
lim
x→∞ 5x2 + 4x + 1

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 7 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Example Find the horizontal and vertical asymptotes of the graph of the
function √
2x2 + 1
f (x) =
3x − 5

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 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Example Compute
p

lim x2 + 1 − x
x→∞

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 9 / 13

 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Innite limits at innity

The notation lim f (x) = ∞ is used to indicate that f (x) becomes large
x→∞
as x becomes large.
Similarly we can dene

lim = −∞ lim f (x) = ∞ lim f (x) = −∞

x→∞ x→−∞ x→−∞

Example
lim x3 = ∞ and lim x3 = −∞.
x→∞ x→−∞

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 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Example Find lim (x2 − x).

x→∞

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 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

x3 + x
Example Find lim .
x→∞ 3 − x

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 Limits at innity and horizontal asymptotes

Example Sketch the graph of y = (x − 2)4 (x + 1)3 (x − 1) by nding its

intercepts and its limits as x −→ ∞ and as x −→ −∞.

Tan Do (VGU) Mathematics 2 Lecture 8 13 / 13