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LimitsEvaluating

Limits(Evaluating)
Youshouldread Limits(AnIntroduction) first

Quick Summary of Limits

Sometimeswecan'tworksomethingoutdirectly...butwecanseewhatitshouldbeas
wegetcloserandcloser!

Example:
(x21)
(x1)
Let'sworkitoutforx=1:

(121)
(11)

(11)
(11)

0
0

Now0/0isadifficulty!Wedon'treallyknowthevalueof0/0(itis"indeterminate"),sowe
needanotherwayofansweringthis.
Soinsteadoftryingtoworkitoutforx=1let'stryapproachingitcloserandcloser:

ExampleContinued:
x

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(x21)
(x1)

0.5

1.50000

0.9

1.90000

0.99

1.99000

0.999

1.99900
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0.9999

1.99990

0.99999

1.99999

...

Nowweseethatasxgetscloseto1,then

...
(x21)
(x1)

getscloseto2

Wearenowfacedwithaninterestingsituation:
Whenx=1wedon'tknowtheanswer(itisindeterminate)
Butwecanseethatitisgoingtobe2
Wewanttogivetheanswer"2"butcan't,soinsteadmathematicianssayexactlywhatis
goingonbyusingthespecialword"limit"
2
Thelimitof (x 1) asxapproaches1is2

(x1)

Anditiswritteninsymbolsas:

Soitisaspecialwayofsaying,"ignoringwhathappenswhenwegetthere,butasweget
closerandclosertheanswergetscloserandcloserto2"

Asagraphitlookslikethis:
So,intruth,wecannotsaywhatthevalueatx=1is.
Butwecansaythatasweapproach1,thelimitis2.

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LimitsEvaluating

Evaluating Limits
"Evaluating"meanstofindthevalueof(thinke"value"ating)
Intheexampleabovewesaidthelimitwas2becauseitlookedlikeitwasgoingtobe.
Butthatisnotreallygoodenough!
Infacttherearemanywaystogetanaccurateanswer.Let'slookatsome:

1.JustPutTheValueIn
Thefirstthingtotryisjustputtingthevalueofthelimitin,andseeifitworks(inother
words substitution ).
Let'strysomeexamples:
Example

SubstituteValue

Works?

(11)/(11)=0/0

10/2=5
Itdidn'tworkwiththefirstone(weknewthat!),butthesecondexamplegaveusaquick
andeasyanswer.

2.Factors
Wecantry factoring .

Example:

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Byfactoring(x21)into(x1)(x+1)weget:

Nowwecanjustsubstitiutex=1togetthelimit:

3.Conjugate
Whenit'safraction,multiplyingtopandbottombya conjugate mighthelp.
Theconjugateiswherewechange
thesigninthemiddleof2termslikethis:

Hereisanexamplewhereitwillhelpusfindalimit:

Evaluatingthisatx=4gives0/0,whichisnotagoodanswer!

So,let'strysomerearranging:

Multiplytopandbottombytheconjugateofthetop:

Simplifytopusing

Simplifytopfurther:

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Cancel(4x)fromtopandbottom:

So,nowwehave:

Done!

4.InfiniteLimitsandRationalFunctions
ARationalFunctionisonethatistheratiooftwopolynomials:

Forexample,hereP(x)=x3+2x1,andQ(x)=6x2:
Byfindingtheoverall DegreeoftheFunction wecanfindoutwhetherthefunction'slimit
is0,Infinity,Infinity,oreasilycalculatedfromthecoefficients.

Readmoreat LimitsToInfinity .

5.FormalMethod
Theformalmethodsetsaboutprovingthatwecangetascloseaswewanttothe
answerbymaking"x"closeto"a".

Readmoreat Limits(FormalDefinition)

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