Section 7.

7 LHopitals Rule:
Recall: the limit of a function can be found by substitution.
If the Substitution process results in 0/0 or /, the
expression is known as an indeterminate form.
Example: Find the following.

0
1 1
lim
x
x
x

+
LHopitals Rule: Let f and g be functions that are
differentiable on an open interval (a, b) containing c, except
possible at c itself. If the limit of f(x)/g(x) as x approaches
c produces the indeterminate form 0/0, then

( ) ( )
lim lim
( ) ( )
x c x c
f x f x
g x g x

if the latter limit exists.

Example: Find the following.

0
1 1
lim
x
x
x

+

2
0
1 1 2
lim
x
x x
x

+
LHopitals Rule can be used when the limit of f(x)/g(x) as
x approaches a produces any indeterminate forms like /,
(-)/, /(-), or (-)/(-).
LHopitals Rule also applies to one-sided limits provided
the limit exists or is infinite.


( ) ( )
lim lim
( ) ( )
x c x c
f x f x
g x g x
+ +

Example: Evaluate the following.

ln
lim
x
x
x

2
0
sin
lim
x
x
x

1
1 1
lim
ln 1
x
x x

,
If the indeterminate form is 1

, 0
0
, or
0
, this can be
handled by taking the logarithm first and using

[ ]
[ ]
ln ( )
lim ln ( )
lim ( ) lim
x a
f x L
x a x a
f x L
f x e e

1
]
Example: Evaluate

1
lim 1
x
x
x

_
+

,
Work: p. 530 # 5-30