MF007 Calculus

Chapter 1: Limits & Continuity

1.1 Definition
1.2 Evaluation of limits
1.3 One-sided limit
1.4 Infinite Limits
1.5 Continuity

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 1.1 Definition of Limits

lim f ( x)  L
x  x0
 Means that “the limit of f(x) as x approaches xo
equals L”.
 The values of f(x) is arbitrarily close to L by
taking x to be sufficiently close to xo (on either
side of xo ) but not equal to xo .

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 1.2 Evaluation of Limits
a) Direct substitution property
b) Factoring
c) Fraction within fraction
d) Conjugation

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 a) Direct Substitution Property

 If f is a polynomial or a rational function and a is

the domain of f, then

lim
xa
f ( x) = f(a)

Eg: Evaluate the following limits:

a) lim x  4
2
x 2

1
lim
b) x  3 x  3
Functions with Direct Substitution Property are called continuous
4 at a. However, not all limits can be evaluated by direct substitution.
 Exercise
3
a) lim x
x 2


b) lim x  1
x 1
2

c) lim 1
x  1 x 2  1

lim x 3
x2

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 b) Factoring

 Example 1:
Find the limits of:
a) x3 + x
x
However, when substituting x=0 into the function,
limit is undefined because 0 Indeterminant form
0

How do we solve this?

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 b) Factoring
 Solution:
Find the limits of:
a) x3 + x
x

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 b) Factoring

 Example 2:
Find the limits of:
a) x2 - 1
x -1
However, when substituting x=0 into the function,
limit is undefined because 0 Indeterminant form
0

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 b) Factoring

 Solution:
Find the limits of:
a) x2 - 1
x -1

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 Exercises

x2  4
a) lim 2
x 2 x  5 x  6

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 Exercises
x 2  3x  2
b) lim 2
x 1 x  4 x  3

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 Exercises
c) x2
lim 2
x 2 x  4

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 c) Fractions Within Fractions
 If there are fractions within fractions, try to combine
the fractions.
 Example : Find the following limits:
1
1
lim x  1
x 0 x

 Substitution method cannot be used as the numerator

and denominator would be zero.
 Thus, need to combine the fractions to solve!

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 Exercises
x 3

lim x  2 5
a)
x 3 x 3

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 Exercises
1 1

b)
lim x  2 2
x 0 x

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 d) Conjugation
 If there is a square root, try to multiply by the
conjugate.
 Example 1:
Find the limits of
x2  9  3
lim
x 0 x2
 Substitution method cannot be used as the numerator
and denominator would be zero.
 Need to add the conjugate of the numerator.

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 Conjugation
a) Find the limit of lim x 2  9  3
x 0 2
x

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 𝑥+4−2
b) Find the limit of lim
𝑥→0 𝑥

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Exercises
x 2
a) lim
x 4 x4

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Exercises
x  2 3
b) lim
x 7 x7

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Exercises
x 1
c) lim
x 1
x2  3  2

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 One sided limits
• The existence of a limit for a function f
when x approaches cdepends the
properties on both sides of c,
for example, consider
x 1 x  0

f x   0 x0
x  1 x  0
 Graph 1

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 One sided limit
 From the figure above, it is clear that:
a) If we restricted its domain to  ,0 , then f x 
approaches -1 as x approaches 0 from the left.
lim f x   1
x 0

b) If we restricted its domain to 0,  , then f x 

approaches 1 as x approaches 0 from the right.
lim f x   1
x 0

This is the concept of one sided limit.

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 Theorem
 lim f ( x) exists and equal to L if and only if both xlim
a 
f ( x)
xa
and xlim
a
f ( x) exist and equal to L.
 From Example1,
The left-hand limit exists and equals -1 and the right-
hand limit exists and equals 1.
Thus, lim
x0
f ( x) does not exist

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Examples
x if x ≠ 0
a) g ( x)  
2 if x = 0

Find lim
x0
g ( x)

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Examples
x x  1
b) f x   
 1 x  1
Find lim f x 
x 1

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Examples
4  x 2 x  1
c) f x   
2  x 2 x  1
Find lim f x 
x 1

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 Infinite Limits
 Limits at infinity
We consider the following:

2x2
f x   2
x 1
2x2 2x2
If we want to compute lim 2 and lim 2 ,
x   x  1 x   x  1

how???

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 Infinite Limits
2x2
lim
 In order to compute x  x 2  1, we construct the table
below:

x 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 100 1000

f x  0
8 18 32 50 200 20000 2000000
1 5 10 17 26 101 10001 1000001

Then, we say that

2x2
lim 2 2
x   x  1

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 Infinite Limits
2x2
 Similarly, In order to compute lim 2 , we construct
x   x  1
the table below:

x 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -10 -100 -1000

f x 
8 18 32 50
0 1 200 20000 2000000
5 10 17 26 101 10001 1000001

Then, similarly we get

2x2
lim 2 2
x   x  1

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 Infinite Limits
 If k is any positive number, then

 1 
a) lim  k   0
 
x   x

 1 
b) lim  k 0

x   x


 1 
c) lim  k   0

x  x


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Examples
Find the following limits:
a) lim 4 x  3
x   2x  5

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Examples
b) lim 2 x 2
 x5
x  4 x3  1

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Examples
c) lim 3x  4
x 2
2x  5

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Exercises
Compute the following limits: 1
2 lim
a) lim  3 b) x  1
x  x 2
x

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Exercises
7
c) 5
x d) lim 2  x
lim x  2  x
x  1
3 2
x

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Exercises
7 x3
e) lim x  1 f) lim 3
x  x  3 x 2  6 x
2
x  x 3

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 1.4 Infinite Limits
 Definition
(a) The line x = a is called a vertical asymptote of f, if at
least one of the following is true:
(i) lim f ( x)   (ii) xlim 
f ( x)  
x a a
(iii) lim f ( x)   (iv) lim f ( x)  
x a x a

(b) The line y = b is called a horizontal asymptote of f, if

at least one of the following is true:
(i) xlim f ( x)  b (ii) xlim f ( x)  b
 

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Examples
Find the vertical and horizontal asymptotes of the following
function, if they are exist

4x  5
a) f x  
3x  2

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Examples
x2  x  2
b) f x   2
x  2x  3

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Examples
c) f x  
x
1 x  x2

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Exercises
Find the vertical and horizontal asymptotes of the following
function, if it exists.
a) f x   2
x
x  x2

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Exercises
b) f x   1
xx  1

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Exercises
c) f x   x  1
x  12

44
 1.5 Continuity
Function f is said to be continuous at a point c if and only
if c is in the domain of f, and the following conditions
are satisfied:
1. 𝑓(𝑐) is defined in the interval 𝑎, 𝑏 .

f ( x)  lim f ( x)  lim f ( x)
2. xlim
c 
x c x c

3. lim f ( x)  f (c)
x c

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Examples
Determine whether the following functions are
continuous at the point x = 0.
 x 2  1, x  0
a. 
f ( x)   2, x  0
 x 1 x  0


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Examples
.  x 2  1, x  0
b. 
g ( x)    1, x  0
 x 1 x  0


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Exercises
1. The function 𝑓(𝑥) is defined by:
2 x  1, x  2
f ( x)   2
x , x2

Determine whether 𝑓(𝑥) is continuous at 𝑥 = 2.

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Exercises
2. The function 𝑓(𝑥) is defined by:

 2 x  x 2
, x2
f ( x)  

  2 x  1, x  2
x 2

Determine whether 𝑓(𝑥) is continuous at 𝑥 = 2.

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Exercises
3. Find the values of 𝑎 and 𝑏 given that 𝑓(𝑥) is continuous at
𝑥 = 2. a  bx x  2

f  x   3 x2
b  ax 2 x  2


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