Limits – Basic Calculus

UNDERSTANDING LIMITS
WHAT ARE LIMITS?

 The “building block” on which all the

underlying concepts of calculus are based.
 “Backbone” of calculus, and calculus is called
the Mathematics of Change.
 It helps us to describe, in precise way, the
behavior of f(x) when x is close, but not equal,
to a particular value c.

LIMITS OF FUNCTION

 Where a is the value of the limit that is being

⮚ We will consider functions of a single variable approach by x.
and study the behavior of the function as its  As the graph will be read as “the limit of the
variable approaches a particular value (a function f(x) as x approaches the value of a is
constant). equal to g”
⮚ The variable can only take values very, very
close to the constant, but it cannot equal the
constant itself.

READ AND WRITE LIMITS  The arrow pointing at 4

Let f be a function defined at every number in
some open interval containing c, except possibly
at the number c itself.
If the value of f is arbitrarily close to the
number L for all the values of sufficiently close to,
then the limit of f(x) as approaches is L.
indicates that x is approaching 4 from the left
side and from the right side. (means that x can take
on values less than 4 and values greater than 4)
 It cannot take 4 as a value because it is just
approaching 4 and is not equal to 4. (this is why
the value that we are plotting in the table of values are all in
decimal form and not in whole numbers, as we are seeking if
both sides are approaching the same limit or not)

In other words, the

value of f(x) gets
SPECIAL NOTATIONS closer and closer to 6
as the value of gets
closer and closer to 4
either side. This can
be written as:

We read this expression as “the limit of the function

f(x) as c approaches the value of c”
 NOTES AND REMINDERS
FURTHERMORE

 The limit of a function as it approaches c is

We specify whether x will approach a value c from not necessarily equal to its value. Thus,
the left or from the right. can assume a value different from
f(c).
 We need to emphasize an important fact, We
do not say that “equals DNE”, nor do
we write “ “ because “DNE”
If x approaches c from the left, or is not a value.
through values less than c 
If x approaches c from the right,
or through values greater than c

If both values from the left and from the right

approach the same value,

we say that “the limit of the function f(x) as c

approaches the value of c is equal to L”

In other words, for the limit L to exist, the

limits from the left and from the right must both
exist and be equal to L.
THE LIMIT DOES NOT EXIST (DNE) if the LIMIT
DOES NOT APPROACH THE SAME VALUE from
both left and right. (this is called, ONE-SIDED LIMITS)

THE GRAPH OR POINT WILL BE HALLOW if

the ANSWER IS UNDEFINED, AND THE EXISTING
LAW OF THE LIMIT WILL REMAIN WITH THE
REASON STATED ABOVE.