Section 2.3 Properties of the Limit S.

Childress

Goal: We will develop the tools necessary for effectively computing limits without resorting to
the use of graphs or lengthy and arguments.

The Limit Laws

Limits obey several laws that make working with them much easier. We will state them here:

Limit Laws

Suppose f and g are functions that both have finite limits at the real number c. Further, take
a ∈ R to be any real number. Then:

I) lim [f (x) ± g(x)] = lim f (x) ± lim g(x)

x→c x→c x→c

II) lim[af (x)] = a · lim f (x)

x→c x→c
� �� �
III) lim [f (x)g(x)] = lim f (x) lim g(x)
x→c x→c x→c

f (x) lim f (x)

IV) lim = x→c provided that limx→c g(x) �= 0
x→c g(x) lim
x→c
g(x)

Let’s take a minute to discuss why the above should be true. There are technical proofs of the
above (of course), but they require the technical definition of the limit and are not very instructive
for students just starting out. So we will be content to simply accept them as reasonably true.

Examples
f (x)
1. Given that lim f (x) = 3 and lim g(x) = 7, find lim [f (x) + g(x)] and then lim using
x→3 x→3 x→3 x→3 g(x)
the limit laws.

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2. Given the following functions:

3 3
y = f (x) y = g(x)
2 2

1 1

−3 −2 −1 1 2 3 −3 −2 −1 1 2 3
−1 −1

−2 −2

−3 −3
Use the limit laws to find:

a) lim [3f (x)] = (c) lim [f (x)g(x)] =

x→0 x→1

b) lim [f (x) − 2g(x)] = (d) lim [2f (x) + 3g(x)]

x→−1 x→−2

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Expanding the Toolbox: The Power and Root Rules

The next few rules that we state show how the limit interacts with algebraic operations of rooting
and exponentiating.

Root and Power Rules

Let f be a function and c ∈ R such that x→c

lim f (x) exists. Then if n > 0 is a whole number, then:

� �n
i) (Power Rule) x→c
lim [f (x)]n = x→c
lim f (x)
� �
ii) (Root Rule) lim n
f (x) = n lim f (x)
x→c x→c

Of course, for the Root Rule, we must also require that lim f (x) > 0 when n is even.
x→c

Justifying the root rule actually requires a little bit of knowledge that we currently do not possess
√
(namely that the root function g(x) = n x is a function), but we
state this rule early so that we have a greater latitude to work with square roots in examples.

The power rule is actually very easy to justify. Recall that the limit of a product is the product
of the limits. So:

lim f (x)n =
x→c

and we see why this property is true. (To be 100% honest, we really would need to use Math-
ematical induction to make the above argument rigorous, but we’ll let that slide for the sake of
clarity ).

In the next section, we will use the power rule together with the limit laws and a few simple
calculations to build out our limit taking capabilities.

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Practical Limit Tools

Currently, our limit rules do not do us much good if we do not have the graphs of f (x) or g(x),
or if we do not already know the limits of each function individually. To get us over this difficulty,
we will first find a few very basic limits by thoughfully arguing by using graphs. Then we will
state some intuitive rules that we will use as leverage against our basic limits to fill out a quite
formidable toolbox for calculation.

Constant Functions

Suppose that f (x) = r where r ∈ R is a constant function. Let c ∈ R. Let’s graph f (x) = r to
find lim f (x).
x→c

The Function x

Given c ∈ R let’s work to find x→c

lim x

We have shown:

Constants and x Let r, c ∈ R. Then:

lim r =
x→c
lim x =
x→c

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Polynomials and Rational Functions

n
�
Let p(x) = ak xk be a polynomial and c ∈ R. Let’s use everything that we’ve seen so far to
k=0
lim p(x). We will justify our work as we go.
compute x→c

lim p(x) = lim (an xn + · · · a1 x + a0 )

x→c x→c

So we see that:

lim p(x) =
x→c

P (x)
Now suppose that f (x) = is a rational function. This means that both P (x) and Q(x)
Q(x)
are . What we have just shown is that:

lim P (x) =
x→c
lim Q(x) =
x→c

and as long as Q(c) �= 0, we have:

P (x)
lim f (x) = lim =
x→c x→c Q(x)

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This leads us to our most powerful limit rules yet:

Polynomials and Rational Functions

Let P (x) and Q(x) be polynomials and c a real number with Q(c) �= 0. Then:

P (x)
lim P (x) = and lim =
x→c x→c Q(x)

The Agreement Rule

(And why you should care)

Our last rule that is incredibly powerful is the agreement rule which we state here:

Agreement Rule

Suppose that f (x) = g(x) for all x �= c in an open interval containing c Then

lim f (x) = lim g(x)

x→c x→c

(Note: It may or may not be the case that f (c) = g(c)! It may even be the case that c is not in
either domain of the functions!)

If we think about the definition of the limit, the above should make perfect sense. f (x) → L as
x → c if f (x) gets arbitrarily to L as x gets arbitrarily
to c from both sides. But if g(x) = f (x) for all x near c and f (x) is getting close to L, the g(x)
must get close to L too!

We might have a bit of pause here though: How can f (x) = g(x) everywhere in an open interval
except at just one point?! Consider the following functions:

x
f (x) = 1 g(x) =
x

Let’s graph them here to see the difference:

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

What the agreement rule says here is that:

x
lim = lim 1 = 1
x→0 x x→0

In other words:

Signifigance of the Agreement Rule

We can manipulate f (x) within lim f (x) under the additional assumption that x �= c.
x→c

Actually Computing... Finally

We now have enough tools to start computing. Here are two things to keep in mind while doing
so:

• The goal of each limit computation is to effectively work the problem to a point where we
can use one of our evaluation rules for polynomials or rational functions.

• Remember that in a limit, as x → c, it is the case that x �= c. So we can freely cancel

factors of (x − c) from rational expressions!

• Multiplying square roots by conjugates to clean up root expressions is still a thing (yo).

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Examples

Evaluate the following limit if it exists

3. lim (2x3 − 3x2 + 7) x2 − 4x + 4

5. lim
x→2 x2 + x − 6
x→3

x+1
4. lim x2 + 2x + 1
x→−1 x + 1 6. lim
x→1 x−1

�
x+4
3. lim 3

x→−3 x+5

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√
3+t−2
4. lim
t→1 t−1

(x + h)2 − x2
5. lim
h→0 h

1 1
−
6. lim x + h + 1 x + 1
h→0 h

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Piecewise Functions and Absolute Values

When we defined sided limits in a previous section of the notes, we pointed out that x→c
lim f (x) = L
if and only if

lim f (x) = = lim− f (x)

x→c+ x→c

Ok, so let’s consider the following function:


− 3x + 1 x < 1
 x2
f (x) = √
 x2 + 3 − 1 x ≥ 1

and ask: What is lim f (x) (if it exists)?

x→1

The issue here is that our calculation techniques require we know what f (x) looks like so that we
can manipulate it. But f (x) looks differently depending on how we approach 1! So, we compute
the sided limits to see if they agree. If so, then the limit is the shared value of the sided limits.
If the sided limits do not agree, the limit does not exist. To help us, we note that:

Sided Limit Properties

The sided limits have all of the same properties that the ordinary limit has.

Let’s compute the sided limits to analyze lim f (x).

x→1

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This sided limit analysis is also extremely helpful when it comes to limits involving absolute values!
Let’s explore how this works:

Examples

Find the limit if it exists.

x+3
7. lim
x→−3 |x + 3|

8. lim (3x − |x − 1|)

x→1

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√
 25 + x2

 x < 10

9. If it exists, find lim g(x) where g(x) = 7 x = 10
x→10 
 x√

 5 x > 10
2

The Squeeze Theorem

Some limits are just stubborn. Like, nasty. For example:

� �
1
lim x sin
x→0x
Now, our first thought about the above might be: Oh that’s easy! Just break the limit into the
product of the limits and compute! But wait! This is only allowed if both limits exist and are
finite!
� �
Indeed, here is a graph of y = sin 1
x
near x = 0:

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The truly crazy thing about this graph is that as we zoom in, there is just more and more
oscillation! Since 1/x gets larger and larger as we get closer to x = 0, sin(1/x) oscillates faster
and faster.

In other words, the closer we get to zero, the faster the function sin(1/x) cycles through all of
the values in its range! This means that sin(1/x) does not approach any particular value as
x → 0 and so

lim sin(1/x) =
x→0

So we cannot use the product law for limits. If

we look at the graph of x sin(1/x):

we see that as x → 0 its almost as if the values

of x sin(1/x) are
down to 0. The graph seems to force us to
accept that:

� �
1
lim x sin =
x→0 x

But we need a tool for arguing this rigorously without the graph!

The Squeeze Theorem

Suppose that for all x �= c in an open interval g(x) ≤ f (x) ≤ h(x) and that

lim g(x) = L = x→c

x→c
lim h(x)
Then it must be that:

lim f (x) = L
x→c

That is, g(x) and h(x) squeeze f (x) → L! Note: This theorem holds for sided limits with the
obvious changes applied.

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Examples

Use the Squeeze Theorem to compute.

√
10. lim x6 + x2 sin(1/x)
x→0

11. lim (x − 1)2 ecos(1/x)

x→1

12. Suppose that for all x near 3: 2x + 5 ≤ g(x) ≤ x3 − x2 − 7. Find lim g(x).
x→3

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