Limits and Continuity 2

Rules for Limits

Rules for Limits
1. Constant rule If k is a constant real number,

lim k = k .
x→a
2. Limit of x rule

For the followinglim

rules, =a
x we .
assume that and
both exist x →a

3. Sum and difference rules lim f ( x ) lim g ( x )

x→a x→a

lim[ f ( x )  g ( x )] = lim f ( x )  lim g ( x ).

x →a x →a x →a
Rules for Limits
4. Product Rule

lim[ f ( x)  g ( x)] = lim f ( x)  lim g ( x).

x →a x →a x →a

5. Quotient Rule

f ( x) lim f ( x)
lim = x →a .
x →a g ( x) lim g ( x)
provided x →a
lim g ( x )  0.
x →a
Finding a Limit of a Linear Function
• Example 1
Find
• Solution
lim (3 + 2 x ).
x →4

lim (3 + 2 x ) = lim 3 + lim 2 x Rules 1 and 4

x→4 x→4 x→4

= 3 + lim 2  lim x Rules 1 and 2

x →4 x →4

= 3+ 2 4
= 11
Finding a Limit of a Polynomial Function with One Term
• Example 2
Find

• Solution
lim 3 x 2 .
x →5

lim 3 x 2 = lim 3  lim x 2 Rule 4

x →5 x →5 x →5

= 3  lim x 2 Rule 1
x →5

= 3  lim x  lim x Rule 4

x →5 x →5

= 355 Rule 2
= 75
Finding a Limit of a Polynomial Function with One Term

For any polynomial function in the form

f ( x) = kx n ,
lim f ( x ) = k  a n = f (a ).
x →a
Finding a Limit of a Polynomial Function
• Example 3
Find .

lim (4 x − 6 x + 1)
• Solution 3
x→2

lim (4 x 3 − 6 x + 1) = lim 4 x 3 − lim 6 x + lim 1 Rule 2

x →2 x →2 x →2 x →2

= 4  23 − 6  2 + 1
= 21
Rules for Limits (Continued)

For the following rules, we assume that and

both exist.
lim g ( x ) lim f ( x )
x→a x→a

6.Polynomial rule If p (x) defines a polynomial function, then

lim p ( x ) = p (a ).
x →a
Rules for Limits (Continued)
7. Rational function rule If f(x) defines a rational function
with then p( x)
q( a)  0
q ( x)
lim f ( x) = f ( a ).
x →a
8. Equal functions rule If f (x) = g (x) for all , then

xa

lim f ( x ) = lim g ( x ).
x →a x →a
Rules for Limits (Continued)
9. Power rule For any real number k,

k
lim[
provided this limit exists. f ( x)]k = lim f ( x) 
x →a  x →a 
Rules for Limits (Continued)
10. Exponent rule For any real number b > 0,

lim f ( x )
lim b f ( x)
= b x→a .
x →areal number b > 0 with
11. Logarithm rule For any ,

b 1
provided that lim
x →a
 log b f ( x)  = log b lim f ( x) 
 x →a 

lim f ( x )  0.
x →a
Finding a Limit of a Rational Function

• Example 4

Find
x2 + 2 x − 3
lim 2 .
• Solution
x →1 x − 3 x + 2
• First factor the numerator and denominator

x + 2 x − 3 ( x + 3)( x − 1)
2
x+3
= =
x − 3x + 2
2
( x − 2)( x − 1) x−2
Finding a Limit of a Rational Function
• Solution

• Apply Rule 8 with

and
x + 2x − 3
2
x+3
f ( x) = 2 g ( x) =
x − 3x + 2 x−2
so that f(x) = g(x) for all .

x 1
Finding a Limit of a Rational Function
• Solution

x2 + 2 x − 3 x+3
lim 2 = lim Rule 8
x →1 x − 3 x + 2 x →1 x − 2

1+ 3
= Rule 6
1− 2

= −4
More Examples
• Example 5

Compute the value of the following limit.

Solution
• Solution
−use property 2 to break up the limit into three separate limits
−then use property 1 to bring the constants out of the first two limits
Solution
• Solution (cont’d)
• now use properties 7 through 9 to compute the limit
Example
• Example 6

Evaluate the following limit.

Solution
• Solution
• use property 4 to write the limit as,

• compute the limits of the numerator and the denominator and the limit
Example
• Example 7

Evaluate the following limit.

• Solution
Computing Limits
Computing Limits
Example

x →3
( 2
)
lim x + 1 = lim x + lim1
x →3
2
x →3

( )
2
= lim x + lim1
x →3 x →3

= 3 + 1 = 10
2
Example
• Example 1
Evaluate the following limit.
Solution
• Solution
• Notice that if we try to plug in x=2 we get,
• Factor both the numerator and denominator

• Therefore, the limit is,

Indeterminate Forms
• Indeterminate forms occur when substitution in the limit results in 0/0
• In such cases either factor or rationalize the expressions

Example 0
x+5 Notice form
lim 2
x →−5 x − 25 0
x+5
= lim
x →−5 ( x − 5 )( x + 5 ) Factor and cancel
1 1
common factors
= lim =
x →−5 ( x − 5 ) −10
Examples
• Example 2
Evaluate the following limit.
Solution
• Solution
• Simplify the equation

• factor an h out of both terms in the numerator the cancel against the h in
the denominator
Example
• Example 3
Evaluate the following limit.
Solution
• Solution
• When there is a square root in the numerator or denominator, try to
rationalize
• if either the first and/or the second term have a square root, the
rationalizing will eliminate the root(s)
• try rationalizing the numerator in this case
Solution
• Next, multiply the numerator out and watch minus signs

• Then, factor the numerator

Solution
• Now, factor a “-1”out of the first term in the denominator and do some
canceling then evaluate the limit
One-Sided Limits
One-Sided Limits
• Limits of the form

are called two-sided limits since ( x ) =ofLx get close to a from both the
limthef values
right and left sides of a. x → a

• Limits which consider values of x on only one side of a are called one-
sided limits.
One-Sided Limits
The right-hand limit,

is read “the limit of f(x) as x approaches a from the right is L.”

As x gets closer and closerxlim

to a f ( x) = L
+ from the right (x > a), the values of f(x) get
→a
closer and closer to L.
One-Sided Limits
The left-hand limit,

is read “the limit of f(x) as x approaches a from the left is L.”

lim
As x gets closer and closer to f ( x) = L
− a from the right (x < a), the values of f(x) get
x →a
closer and closer to L.
Example
• Example 1

As x approaches 5 from the left, f (x) approaches 2,

lim f
x → 5−
( x) = 2

As x approaches 5 from the right, f (x) approaches 4,

lim+ f
x →5
( x) = 4

The full limit, lim f ( x ) , does not exist: consideration of x < 5 would force the limit to be 2,
x →5
but consideration of x > 5 would force the limit to be 4.
For a full limit to exist, both one-sided limits have to exist and they have to be equal.
Example
• Example 2

lim − f ( x ) = 5 and lim + f ( x ) = 5

x →( −2 ) x →( −2 )

In this case lim f

x →−2
( x) = 5
It does not matter that f (−2) = 3.
Examining the graph of f near x = 4, we find that

lim f ( x ) = 7 whereas lim f ( x ) = 2

x → 4− x → 4+

Since these one-sided limits are different, lim f ( x ) does not exist.
x→4
Example
• Example 3

Set f ( x ) = x / x . Note that f(x) = 1 for x ＞ 0,

and f(x) = −1 for x ＜ 0:

1, if x ＞ 0
f(x) =
−1, if x ＜ 0

Apply the limit process at different numbers a.

If a ＜ 0, then for all x sufficiently close to a, x ＜ 0 and f(x) = −1.
It follows that for a ＜ 0
lim f(x) = lim (−1) = −1
x→a x→a
Example

If a ＞ 0, then for all x sufficiently close to a, x ＞ 0 and f(x) = 1. It follows

that for a ＜ 0
lim f(x) = lim (1) = 1
x→a x→a

However, the function has no limit as x tends to 0:

lim f(x) = −1 but lim f(x) = 1.
x→ 0- x→ 0+
Example
• Example 4

Examine the behavior of f(x) for x close to 3 and

close to 7.

As x approaches 3 from the left or from the right, f(x) becomes arbitrarily
large and cannot stay close to any number L. Therefore

lim f(x) does not exist.

x→3
Example

As x approaches 7 from the left, f (x) becomes arbitrarily

large and cannot stay close to any number L. Therefore

lim f(x) does not exist.

x→7

The same conclusion can be reached by noting as x

approaches 7 from the right, f (x) becomes arbitrarily large.
Example
• Example 5

Here we set f(x) = sin (π/ x) and show that the function can have no limit as x →
0

The function is not defined at x = 0, as you know, that’s irrelevant. What

keeps f from having a limit as x → 0 is indicated in the figure. As x → 0, f(x)
keeps oscillating between y = 1 and y = –1 and therefore cannot remain close
to any one number L.
Example
• Example 6
Let f(x) = (sin x)/x. If we try to evaluate f at 0, we get the meaningless
ratio 0/0; f is not defined at x = 0. However, f is defined for all x ≠ 0, and
so we can consider
sin x
lim .
x→0 x
Select numbers that approach 0 closely from the left and numbers that approach
0 closely from the right. Using a calculator, evaluate f at these numbers.
Example

These calculations suggest that

sin x sin x
lim =1 and lim =1
x →0 − x x →0 + x

and therefore that

sin x
lim = 1.
x →0 x
Relationship Between One-sided Limits and Normal Limits
Summary of Limits That Fail to Exist
Various ways in which the limit of a function f at a number a may fail to exist.
(i) lim− f
x →c
( x ) = L1 , lim+ f
x →c
( x ) = L2 . and L1  L2

(The left-hand and right-hand limits of f at c each exist, but they are not equal.)
Summary of Limits That Fail to Exist
(ii) f (x) → +∞ as x → c –, or f (x) → +∞ as x → c +, or both. (The function f is
unbounded as x approaches c from the left, or from the right, or both.)
Summary of Limits That Fail to Exist
(iii) f (x) “oscillates” as x → c –, c + or c.
Limits Involving Piecewise Functions
• Example
Given the function,

Compute the following limits.

Limits Involving Piecewise Functions
a) X

• In this case, y=6 is completely inside the second interval for the function and so there
are values of y on both sides of y=6 that are also inside this interval
• use y=6 to evaluate this limit
Limits Involving Piecewise Functions
b) x

• we can’t just plug y=2 into the second portion because this interval does not contain
values of y to the left of y=2
• we need to know what is happening on both sides of the point
• do the two one-sided limits and see what we get
Limits Involving Piecewise Functions

• In this case we can see that,

• Since the two one sided limits aren’t the same

doesn’t exists.
Finding One-Sided Limits of a Piecewise-Defined Function

Example Find lim+ f ( x ) lim− f ( xand

)
where x → 2 x →2

x + 6 if x  2

5 if x = 2
f ( x) = 
 1 x2 if x  2

2
Finding One-Sided Limits of a Piecewise-Defined Function
1 2
Solution Since x > 2 in lim+ f ( x) f (use = formula
x) the x
x →2 2
.
lim− f ( x)
In the limit x →2 , where x < 2, use f(x) = x + 6.
lim+ f ( x) = lim+
x →2 x →2
1 2
2
x =
2
( )
1 2
2 =2

lim− f ( x ) = lim− ( x + 6) = 2 + 6 = 8
x →2 x →2
Squeeze Theorem
Squeeze Theorem
Illustration of Squeeze Theorem
Squeeze Theorem Example
• Example 1

Evaluate the following limit

• Solution
• The first thing to notice is that we know the following fact about cosine

• Our function doesn’t have just an x in the cosine, but as long as we avoid
x=0 we can say the same thing for our cosine.
Squeeze Theorem Example
• From the inequality for cosine, just multiply everything by an x 2 and get the
following.

• squeeze the function in between two other functions that are very easy to
deal with
• the limits of the two outer functions are

• These are the same and so by the Squeeze theorem we must also have,
Squeeze Theorem Example
Example
• Example 2

For sin x sin

, findx .
f ( x) = lim
• Solution x x → x
• When we graph this function, the limit appears to be zero.

2
1
-12 -10 -8 -6 -4 0
-2 -1 2 4 6 8 10 12
-2
Example
• Solution

−1  sin x  1
−1 sin x 1
so for x  0:  
x x x
−1 sin x 1
lim  lim  lim
x → x x → x x → x

sin x
0  lim 0
x → x
• by the sandwich theorem:
sin x
lim =0
x → x