Chapter 1: LIMITS AND CONTINUITY

LIMITS
-can be used to describe how a function behaves as the independent variable moves
toward a certain value.

sin x
For example: f ( x) =
x

Note: x must be in radians. From now on whenever an angle is involved in limits and
differentiation, it is assumed to be in radian.

x f ( x) x f ( x)
1 0.8414709 -1 0.8414709
0.1 0.9983342 -0.1 0.9983342
0.01 0.9999833 -0.01 0.9999833
0.001 0.9999998 -0.001 0.9999998
0.0001 0.9999999 -0.0001 0.9999999

The table above shows the values of f ( x) when x approaches from the right hand side
and left hand side of 0 respectively.

sin x sin x
Hence we can say lim+ =1 and lim− =1
x →0 x x →0 x

sin x
This result can be summarized as lim =1
x →0 x

Definition 1.1 (Right Limit)

If the value of f ( x) tends to a number l1 as x approaches x0 from the right hand side,
then lim+ f ( x) = l1
x → x0

Definition 1.2 (Left Limit)

If the value of f ( x) tends to a number l2 as x approaches x0 from the left hand side,
then lim− f ( x) = l2
x → x0

Definition 1.3 (Limit of a Function)

If the limits from the left and right hand side of f ( x) have the same
value, lim+ f ( x) = lim− f ( x) = l , then lim f ( x) exist and it is written as lim f ( x) = l .
x → x0 x →x0 x → x0 x→x0

1
 y
y=f(x)
l1

l2

x
0 x x0 x

lim f ( x) = l2 lim f ( x) = l1 l1  l2
x → x0− x → x0+

The graph above shows a function which right and left limits does not agree.
Hence lim f ( x) does not exist.
x → x0

Note: The limit lim f ( x) only exists if both lim+ f ( x) and lim− f ( x) exist and both
x → x0 x → x0 x → x0

values are equal.

Example 1:
x +1 , x  1

Sketch the graph of f ( x) = 3 / 2 , x = 1 and evaluate the limit of this function
2 − x , x  1

when x → 1 , if it exists.

Example 2:
 x + 1, x  1
If g ( x) =  , does lim g ( x ) exist?
3 / 2, x = 1 x →1

The previous example tells us that the limit of a function as the independent variable
approaches a point does not depend on the value of the function at that point.

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Example 3:
sin x 1 − cos x
Sketch the graphs of f ( x) = and g ( x) = by using different axes. Hence
x x
sin x 1 − cos x
evaluate lim and lim .
x →0 x x → 0 x
1 0.8 1

0.6 0.9
0.8
0.8
0.4
0.6 0.7
0.2
0.6
0.4
0 0.5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
0.2
0.4
-0.2

0 0.3
-0.4
0.2
-0.2 -0.6
0.1

-0.4 -0.8 0
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8

sin x 1 − cos x
Here we obtain two important results lim = 1 , lim = 0 which will be use
x →0 x x → 0 x
regularly later in this chapter.

Example 4:
tan x
Evaluate lim .
x →0 x

x  0.001  0.01  0.1 1

f ( x) 1.00000033 1.00003334 1.00334672 1.55740773
1.7

1.6

1.5

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.1

1
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
tan x
lim =1
x →0 x

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 EXISTANCE OF LIMITS
Due to the behavior of certain functions such as oscillation and unbounded increase or
decrease, limit may not exist for some function at a particular point.

1
Oscillation: f ( x) = sin  
 x
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
-0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

Unbounded increase or decrease

50 20

40 18

30 16

14
20
12
10
10
0
8
-10
6
-20
4
-30
2
-40
0
-50 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

1 1
f ( x) = f ( x) =
x ( x − 2) 2
lim f ( x) = − lim+ f ( x) = + lim− f ( x) = lim+ f ( x) = +
x→0− , x→0 x →2 x →2

Therefore lim f ( x) does not exist. Therefore lim f ( x) does not exist but we can
x→2
x →0
write lim f ( x) = + .
x →2

Note: Symbols + and − are descriptions of limits that fail to exist. They do not attain
any real value and cannot be manipulated using rules of algebra.

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LIMITS AT INFINITY
y Sometimes limit does exist for points
far away from the origin.
lim f ( x) = l
y=f(x) x →

x
0

Example 5:
Sketch the graph y = tan −1 ( x) . Hence evaluate lim tan −1 ( x) and lim tan −1 ( x) .
x →+ x →−

y = tan −1 ( x) is the inverse function of y = tan( x) , therefore its graph can be easily
obtained by reflecting the graph of y = tan( x) to the line y = x .

y=tan(x)
y=x

pi/2

x
0

-pi/2

-pi -pi/2 0 pi/2 pi

Example 6:
x
 1
Find the limit of 1 + 
 x
x 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000
x 2.00000000 2.59374246 2.70481383 2.71692393 2.71814593 2.71826824
 1
 1 + 
 x

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 x
 1
We can see that 1 +  approaches e as x →  .
 x
x
 1 1
Thus we have another important result lim  1 +  = e or equivalently, lim (1 + x ) x = e .
x →
 x x →0

Example 7:
For the function y =  ( x) graphed below, find
(a) lim−  ( x ) (b) lim+  ( x) (c) lim  ( x)
x →−2 x →−2 x →−2

(d)  (−2) (e) lim  ( x) (f) lim  ( x)

x →− x →+

5
y
4

2
2
1

0
-2
x
-1

-2

-3

-4

-5
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10

COMPUTATIONAL METHODS OF LIMIT

Theorem 1.1
Suppose a, k and n are real numbers. The limit of each of these expressions is as follows
(a) lim k = k (b) lim x = a
x→a x→a

(c) lim x = a n n
x →a

Theorem 1.2 (Properties of limits)

Let f ( x) and g ( x) be two functions. If the limits of f ( x) and g ( x) exist at a particular
point, then
(a) lim  kf ( x) = k lim f ( x) , where k is a constant.
(b) lim  f ( x)  g ( x) = lim f ( x)  lim g ( x) .
(c) lim  f ( x) g ( x) = lim f ( x) lim g ( x) .

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 f ( x) lim f ( x)
(d) lim = , where lim g ( x)  0 .
g ( x) lim g ( x)
lim  f ( x)  =  lim f ( x)  .
n n
(e)
(f) lim n f ( x) = n lim f ( x) , with condition lim f ( x)  0 if n is even.

Example 8:
Evaluate the limits of the following expressions.
(a) lim x2 (b) lim x sin x (c) lim(5x2 − 2 x + 2)
x →3 x →0 x →3

x +8
3
8 − 2x
(d) lim 5 x 2 − 4 (e) lim (f) lim
x →−2 x →2 x + 2 x →4 x − x − 12
2

x +8
3
4+h −2
(g) lim (h) lim
x →−2 x+2 h →0 h

sin x
Use known result lim = 1 to evaluate
x →0 x

cos( − x)
sin 3 x 2 1 − cos x
(a) lim (b) lim (c) lim
x →0 2x x →0 x x →0 x
x sin x 6 x − sin 2 x
(d) lim (e) lim+ (f) lim
x → 0 sin x x →0 5 x x →0 2 x + 3sin 4 x

tan y 1 − cos x x
(g) lim (h) lim (g) lim −1
y →0 y x →0 x2 x → 0 sin x

When there involves limits when x approaches infinity and a rational function is given,
divide the numerator and denominator with x n , where n is the highest power of x.

Example 9:
x − 4 x2 3x − 5
(a) lim (b) lim 3
x →− 5 x − 6 x3 x →+ 6x + 8

x
 1
Use known result lim  1 +  = e to evaluate
x →
 x
x
x
 1   a 2
(a) lim 1 +  (b) lim 1 + 
x →
 2x  x →
 x

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Example 10:
Evaluate
4
1 − sin x 1
lim (1 + x) x lim
x →0 cos 2 x
lim(1 + 2 x) x
(a) x →0+ (b) (c) x →0

x x 2 cos 2 x
lim− lim x + 5x − x
2 lim
(d) x→0 x (e) x→ (f) x →0 1 − cos x

CONTINUITY

Definition 1.5 (Continuity)

A function f ( x) is said to be continuous at the point x = a if the following conditions
are satisfied.
(a) The function f ( x) is defined at x = a , that is f (a) exist.
(b) lim f ( x) exist.
x→a

(c) lim f ( x) = f ( a ) .
x→a

Which of the following graphs are continuous? If it is not continuous, which condition (in
Definition 1.5) is not fulfilled?
y

y=f(x)

x
0 a

y y

y=f(x) y=f(x)

x x
0 a 0 a
(a), (c) (b), (c)

(b), (c) (c)

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If f ( x) is not continuous at x = a , x = a is known as a point of discontinuity.
If f ( x) is continuous for all the points in the open interval ( a, b) , then f ( x) is said to be
continuous in the interval of ( a, b) .
If f ( x) is continuous in the interval (−, ) , then f ( x) is said to be continuous
everywhere or simply continuous.

Example 11:
Examine the continuity of the following functions.
1
(a) f ( x) = x2 (b) f ( x) = x (c) f ( x) =
x

Example 12:
Show that both the following function f ( x) and g ( x) are discontinuous at x = 1 .
x2 −1  x2 −1
f ( x) =  , x 1
x −1 g ( x) =  x − 1
 3 , x =1


Example 13:
Find the constants a and b such that f is continuous at x = 1 .
ax + b , x  1

f ( x) =  3 , x =1
 x2 + b , x  1


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Example 14:
At what interval do the following functions continuous?
(a) f ( x) = x 2 − 4 (b) g ( x) = tan x, x  [−2 , 2 ]

0
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4

(a) (−, ) (b) (−, ) −  x : x = 2 n +1

2  , n = 0, 1, 2, 

Example 15:
x2 − 9 x+3
Where do h( x) = and k ( x) = 2 continuous?
x − 5x + 6
2
x + 3x

Note: All polynomials are continuous everywhere.

Definition 1.6 (Continuity at an Interval)

Assume that f ( x) is defined in the interval of [a, b] . The function f ( x) is said to be
continuous in the interval [a, b] if
(a) f ( x) is continuous in the interval ( a, b)
(b) lim+ f ( x) = f (a) and lim− f ( x) = f (b) .
x →a x →b

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Example 15:
If f ( x) = 4 − x 2 , sketch the graph of f ( x) and proof that f ( x) is continuous in the
interval [−2, 2] .

Exercises 16:
Find the point (points) of discontinuity for the following functions.
x x−2
(a) f ( x) = (b) f ( x) = (c) f ( x) = csc x, x  [−2 , 2 ]
x x −2
1 − cos x
 x , x0

(d) f ( x) =  0 , x=0
 cos x
 , x0
1 + cos x

Example 17:
Find constants a and b so that the given function will be continuous for all x.
 tan ax  sin ax
 tan bx , x  0  x , x0
 
(a) f ( x) =  4, x=0 (b) f ( x) =  5, x=0
 ax + b , x  0  x+b , x  0
 
 

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