BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

LIPA CAMPUS

DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS

ONE AND TWO SIDED LIMITS

The limit of a function is called two-sided limit if it requires the values of f(x) to get closer and
closer to a number as the values of x are taken from either side of x=a. However some functions
exhibit different behaviors on the two sides of an x-value a in which case it is necessary to
distinguish whether the values of x near a are on the left side or on the right side of a for purposes
of investigating limiting behavior.

Example 1: Given the signum function, find the limit of this function and tell whether the function
exist.
Example 2:

Example 3:

Example 4:

Example 5:

Example 6:
TRY THIS! 

1.

2.

3.

4. Given , determine if limit exist as x approaches 2.

 Sometimes one-sided or two-sided limits fail to exist because the value of the function
increase or decrease without bound.

For example,

Note:

The symbols and here are not real numbers; they simply describe particular ways in which

the limits fail to exist. Thus it is incorrect to write .

Example: