MAT 2103.

Business mathematics Page 1 of 6

CHAPTER 5 LIMITS

The topic that we will be examining in this chapter is that of Limits.  This is the first of three
major topics that we will be covering in this course.  While we will be spending the least amount
of time on limits in comparison to the other two topics limits are very important in the study of
Calculus.  We will be seeing limits in a variety of places once we move out of this chapter.  In
particular we will see that limits are part of the formal definition of the other two major topics.

Definition

We say that the limit of f(x) is L as x approaches a and write this as

provided we can make f(x) as close to L as we want for all x sufficiently close to a, from both
sides, without actually letting x be a. 

Example 1   Estimate the value of the following limit    

Solution
We will choose values of x that get closer and closer to x=2 and plug these values into the
function.  Doing this gives the following table of values.
x f(x) x f(x)
2.5 3.4 1.5 5.0
2.1 3.857142857 1.9 4.157894737
2.01 3.985074627 1.99 4.015075377
2.001 3.998500750 1.999 4.001500750
2.0001 3.999850007 1.9999 4.000150008
2.00001 3.999985000 1.99999 4.000015000
.
From this table it appears that the function is going to 4 as x approaches 2, so

                                                        .
 
This is shown in the graph by the two arrows on the graph that are moving in towards the point.
 

 
Limits are asking what the function is doing around  and are not concerned with what the
function is actually doing at .  This is a good thing as many of the functions that we’ll be
looking at won’t even exist at  as we saw in our last example.
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Since limits aren’t concerned with what is actually happening at  we will, on occasion, see
situations like the previous example where the limit at a point and the function value at a point
are different.   There are times where the function value and the limit at a point are the same .
Let’s summarize what we learned in this section. 
(i) We saw that limits do not care what the function is actually doing at the point in
question. 
(ii) Tables of values should always be your last choice in finding values of limits.
(iii) Limits don’t always exist and so don’t get into the habit of assuming that they will.

One-Sided Limits
As the name implies, with one-sided limits we will only be looking at one side of the point in
question.  Here are the definitions for the two one sided limits.
 
Right-handed limit

We say   provided we can make f(x) as close to L as we want for all x sufficiently
close to a and x>a without actually letting x be a.
 
Left-handed limit

We say provided we can make f(x) as close to L as we want for all x sufficiently
close to a and x<a without actually letting x be a..

For the right-handed limit we now have  which means that we know will only look at
x>a.  Likewise for the left-handed limit we have  which means that we will only be
looking at x<a.
.
Example 1   Estimate the value of the following limits.

                

 
Note that one-sided limits do not care about what’s happening at the point any more than normal
limits do.  They are still only concerned with what is going on around the point. 
.

Properties

First we will assume that  and  exist and that c is any constant.  Then,

1.
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2.

3.

4.

5.

Example 1   Compute the value of the following limit. (-7)

Solution
 

Example 2   Evaluate the following limit.

(136 )
Solution

Example 3   Evaluate the following limit.    (4)

Solution
. 
 

Example 4  Evaluate the following limit         (-12)

Solution
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Example 5  Evaluate the following     

( −58 )
Solution

Example 6   Given the function   

Compute the following limits.

(a)   (-17 )

  

(b)     ( doesn’t exit )

              
 

Example 7   Evaluate the following limit. 

(9)

Example 8

Find
lim f ( x )
x → 3− and
lim f ( x )
x → 3+ Where
f (x)=¿ { 2 x2
−3 if x<3 ¿ ¿¿¿
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CHAPTER 8: LIMITS AND CONTINUIT PROBLEM SET 8.1

Find the following limits.
x−5
lim (2 x+5 ) lim 2
1. x →−7 19. x →5 x −25

x +3
lim (10−3 x ) lim 2
2. x → 12 20. x →−3 x + 4 x+ 3
2
x +3 x−10
2
lim (−x +5 x−2) lim
3. x →2 21. x →−5 x+5
2
x −7 x+ 10
3 2
lim ( x −2 x + 4 x+ 8) lim
4. x →−2 22. x →2 x−2
2
t +t−2
lim 8(t−5 )(t−7) lim 2
5. t →6 23. t→1 t −1
2
t +3 t+2
lim 3 s (2 s−1) lim 2
6. s→ 2/3 24. t→−1 t −t−2

x +3 −2 x−4
lim lim 3
x →2 x +6
2
7. 25. x →−2 x +2 x
3 2
4 5 y +8 y
lim lim 4 2
8. x→5 x−7 26. y → 0 3 y −16 y
2
y u −1
4
lim lim
y→−5 5− y
3
9. 27. u→1 u −1

y+2 3
v −8
lim 2 lim 4
10. y → 2 y +5 y+6 28. v →2 v −16

lim √
2
x−3
lim 3 (2 x−1 )
11. x →−1 29. x →9 x−9
2
4 x−x
lim ( x +3 )
1984 lim
12. x →−4 30. x→4 2− √ x
x−1
lim (5− y )
4/3 lim
13. y →−3 31. x →1 √ x +3−2

lim ( 2 z−8 )
1/ 3 lim
√ x 2+8−3
14. z →0 32. x →−1 x +1

lim
3
lim
√ x 2+12−4
15. h→0 √ 3 h+1+1 33. x →2 x−2
5 x +2
lim lim
16. h→0 √ 5 h+4+2 34. x→−2 √ x 2+5−3
2− √ x 2 −5
lim √
3 h+1−1
lim
17. h→0 h 35. x →−3 x+3
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√5 h+4−2 4−x
lim lim
18. h→0 h 36. x →4 5−√ x2 +9

ANSWERS FOR PROBLEM SET 4.1

Find the following limits.

1. -9 19. 1/10
2. - 26 20. - 1/2
3. 4 21. -7
4. - 16 22. -3
5. -8 23. 3/2
6. 2/3 24. - 1/3
7. 5/8 25. - 1/2
8. -2 26. - 1/2
9. 5/2 27. 4/3
10. 1/5 28. 3/8
11. 27 29. 1/6
12. 1 30. 16
13. 16 31. 4
14. -2 32. - 1/3
15. 3/2 33. 1/2
16. 5/4 34. - 3/2
17. 3/2 35. 3/2
18. 5/4 36. 5/4