Math 214 – Intermediate Calculus I

George Peschke

Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences

University of Alberta

Part I: Sequences and Series

Topic 2: Infinity

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Goal Precise notion of ‘infinity’ and computations with ‘infinity’
Given a sequence of numbers

a0 , a1 , a2 , . . . , an , . . .

Want to investigate numbers an as n ‘gets large’; i.e. ‘as n goes to infinity’.

Question What exactly is ‘infinity’?

1 History: rich - consult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity
2 and has metaphysical aspects; e.g. philosopher Hegel: ‘The absolute spirit
(God) is infinite’.

. . . ok, but is this useful in mathematics?

We need something more precise, something that we can actually compute with
...

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Definition Extended real number line
Let R̄ be the set R together with two new points, called ´8 and `8, satisfying:

´8 ă x ă 8 for all x P R and, hence, ´ 8 ă `8

Explanation
For economy of speech, shorten `8 to 8.
Relationship to closing off an interval via:

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Rules for adding in R̄
We extend the rules for adding numbers as follows:
1 For every x P R, x ` 8 “ 8 “ 8 ` x
2 For every x P R, ´8 ` x “ ´8 “ x ` p´8q (“ x ´ 8 for short).
3 8`8“8
4 ´8 ` p´8q “ ´8 (“ ´8 ´ 8 for short)
Not defined (not admissible) are: 8 ´ 8 and ´8 ` 8.

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Rules for multiplying in R̄
In addition to the rules for multiplying numbers, we introduce
1 For every x P R, x ą 0, x ¨ p˘8q “ ˘8 “ ˘8 ¨ x;
in particular: p´1q ¨ 8 “ ´8 and p´1q ¨ p´8q “ 8
2 For every x P R, x ă 0, x ¨ p˘8q “ ¯8 “ p˘8q ¨ x
3 8 ¨ 8 “ 8 “ p´8q ¨ p´8q and 8 ¨ p´8q “ p´8q “ p´8q ¨ 8
x
4 For every x P R, ˘8 “0
˘8
Not defined (not admissible) are: p˘8q ¨ 0, 0 ¨ p˘8q, and ˘8 .

Example
If possible, compute:
1 p8 ` 10100 q ¨ pcos πq
2
1024`ptanpπ{4qq
´8
3 8 ¨ f p2q if f : R Ñ R, f pxq “ 3px ´ 2q5
1

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Next slide
Go on to ‘limits’

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