Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 10
Limits and Continuity
Chapter Objectives
• To study limits and their basic properties.
• To study one-sided limits, infinite limits, and
limits at infinity.
• To study continuity and to find points of
discontinuity for a function.
• To develop techniques for solving nonlinear
inequalities.
Chapter Outline
10.1) Limits
10.2) Limits (Continued)
10.3) Continuity
10.4) Continuity Applied to Inequalities
10.1 Limits
• The limit of f(x) as x approaches a is the number L,
written as lim f x L
x a
Properties of Limits
1. lim f x lim c c where c is a constant
x a x a
2. x a
lim x n
a n
for any positive integer n
3. lim
x a
f x g x lim f x lim g x
x a x a
4. lim
x a
f x g x lim f x lim g x
x a x a
5. lim
x a
cf x c lim f x
x a
Properties of Limits
f x lim f x
6. lim x a
if lim g x 0
x a g x lim g x x a
x a
7. lim n f x n lim f x
x a x a
b. lim x 2 6 2 36
x 6
c. lim t 4 2 16
4
t 2
Solution:
lim f x lim c n x n c n 1x n 1 ... c1x c0
x a x a
c n lim x n c n 1 lim x n 1 ... c1 lim lim c0
x a x a x a x a
where lim f x f a
x a
Solution:
a. The results are becoming arbitrarily large. The limit
does not exist.
b. The results are becoming arbitrarily large. The limit
does not exist.
2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 10: Limits and Continuity
10.2 Limits (Continued)
Solution:
4
a. xlim
x 5 3
0 b. xlim
4 x
Solution: xlim
x 3 x 2 x 2 lim x 3
x
b. lim 2 x 3 9 x lim 2 x 3
x
x
lim
Solution: x 2 x 3
9
x lim
x
2 x 3
10.3 Continuity
Definition
• f(x) is continuous if three conditions are met:
1. f x exists
2. lim f x exists
x a
3. lim f x f a
x a
Example 3 – Discontinuities
a. When does a function have infinite
discontinuity?
Solution:
A function has infinite discontinuity at a when at least
one of the one-sided limits is either ∞ or −∞ as x →a.
1 if x 0
b. Find discontinuity for f x 0 if x 0
1 if x 0
Solution:
f is defined at x = 0 but limx→0 f (x) does not exist. f is
discontinuous at 0.
2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 10: Limits and Continuity
10.3 Continuity
x 2 if x 2
b. f x
x 2
if x 2
Solution:
a. We know that f(3) = 3 + 6 = 9. Because
lim f x lim x 6 9 and lim f x lim x 2 9 ,
x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3
the function has no points of discontinuity.
Solution:
b. It is discontinuous at 2,
lim f x lim x 2 4 lim x 2 lim f x
x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2
Solution: Let f x x 2
3 x 10.
x 2 6 x 5 x 1x 5
Solution: Let f x .
x x
The zeros are 1 and 5.
Consider the intervals: (−∞, 0) (0, 1) (1, 5) (5,∞)