Calculus for Business,

Economics, the Social

and Life Sciences

One-Sided
Limits and
Continuity

Section 1.6
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 Learning Objectives
 Compute and use one-sided limits

 Explore the concept of continuity and

examine the continuity of several functions

 Investigate the intermediate value

property

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 Continuity – Intuitive Notion

A function is continuous if its graph can be

drawn without lifting up one’s pencil.

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 One-Sided Limits

If, as x approaches some value a from

values greater than a, approaches a
value L, then we write

If, as x approaches some value a from

values less than a, approaches a value
K, then we write

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EXAMPLE 1 Computing an Infinite One-Sided
Limit

Find

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EXAMPLE 1 Computing an Infinite One-Sided
Limit

SOLUTION

The one-sided limit can be found in the following

informal manner:

As values of x approach 1 from the right (x > 1), the

expression becomes a large positive number.

We conclude that

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 One- vs. Two-Sided Limits

If, for a function and constants a and L,

Then we define the two-sided limit to be

In other words, if the one-sided limits agree, then

that limiting value is the same as the two-sided limit
we defined in Section 1.5.

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EXAMPLE 2 Computing One-Sided Limits for
a Piecewise-Defined Function

Let

Compute one-sided limits of as x approaches 1.

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EXAMPLE 2 Computing One-Sided Limits for
a Piecewise-Defined Function

SOLUTION

We need to compute

Because the function is defined by the first expression

for values of x less than 1, we have

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EXAMPLE 2 Computing One-Sided Limits for
a Piecewise-Defined Function

SOLUTION

Because the function is defined by the second

expression for values of x greater than 1, we have

Note that because does

not exist.

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 Continuity – Formal Definition

A function is continuous at if

In other words, if the limit as we approach a

agrees with the function value at a then the
function is continuous at that point.

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 Quick example:
The function defined in

Example 2 is not continuous at because

does not exist. In particular,

The graph of f exhibits its discontinuity at 1.

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EXAMPLE 3 Creating a Continuous Function

A bag of rice travels along a conveyer belt so that the

object’s height, in feet, above the ground after t
seconds is modeled by
After six seconds on the conveyer belt, the bag falls
and its height is modeled by for some
constant b.

Find the value of b such that the function giving

the height of the bag is continuous for all positive t.

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EXAMPLE 3 Creating a Continuous Function

SOLUTION

Constructing a formula for the height, we find

We want h to be continuous at all points in its domain,

but we know that both the linear component (the top)
and quadratic component (the bottom) are continuous
independent of one another.
So the point of articulation, should be the focus.
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EXAMPLE 3 Creating a Continuous Function

SOLUTION

We compute both one-sided limits at and set them

equal to one another in order to guarantee the
continuity of h. This process will allow us to solve for
the unknown constant b.

while

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EXAMPLE 3 Creating a Continuous Function

SOLUTION

Setting these two limit expressions equal, we come up

with

Thus if we choose b to be 11, the height function is

continuous on its domain.

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