Limits Page 1 of 4

Limits

1 Informal definition of a limit

The idea of a limit is to describe how a function, f ( x ), behaves as it approaches a

particular value of x. For example, the function f ( x ) = 2x2 − 3 as x gets close to 1.
Below is a table of values f takes as x approaches 1 from either side

x f (x) x f (x)
0 −3 2 5
0.5 −2.5 1.5 1.5
0.8 −1.72 1.2 −0.12
0.9 −1.38 1.1 −0.58
0.95 −1.195 1.05 −0.795
0.99 −1.0398 1.01 −0.9598
0.999 −1.003998 1.001 −0.995998

Clearly the value of the function is approaching −1 which is what you’d expect as
f (2) = 2 · (−1)2 − 3 = 2 − 3 = −1. We introduce the following informal definition:

Suppose f ( x ) is defined when x is near a value a (though not necessarily defined for
x = a itself). Then we say ‘the limit of f ( x ) as x approaches a is L’ if we can make
the value of f ( x ) be arbitrarily close to L by taking values of x sufficiently close to (but
not equal to) a on either side. We write

lim f ( x ) = L. (1)
x→a

Exercises
For the following functions fill in the tables and suggest what you think the limit of
the functions might be. Note that in all three cases the function cannot be explic-
itly calculated for the value of x in the limit. Nonetheless, the limit itself is still well
defined.

Calculus chris.pringle@coventry.ac.uk
Limits Page 2 of 4

x−1
1. Find lim
x →1 x 2 − 1

x f (x) x f (x)
0.5 1.5
0.9 1.1
0.99 1.01
0.999 1.001
0.9999 1.0001

sin x
2. Find lim
x →0 x

x f (x)
±0.5
±0.25
±0.1
±0.05
±0.001
±0.0001

√
x2 + 9 − 3
3. Find lim
x →0 x2

x f (x)
±1
±0.5
±0.1
±0.05
±0.01

For this last case now also try evaluating it for x = 0.00001 and x = 0.000001.
What has gone wrong?

Calculus chris.pringle@coventry.ac.uk
Limits Page 3 of 4

2 Problematic limits

Given the function 

 x−1
if x 6= 1
g( x ) = x2 − 1 (2)
 0 if x = 1
What is lim f ( x )? In fact, the answer is 0.5 just as in the first exercise, even though
x →1
f (1) = 0.

As another example, let us consider the Heaviside function,


0 if x < 0
H (x) = (3)
1 if x > 0

What is lim H ( x )? As x approaches zero from the positive side, the limit appears to
x →0
be 1. As it approaches from the negative side it appears to be 0. In this case we say
that the limit does not exist.

We can, however, introduce the concept of a one-sided limit where we only consider
the possibility of the limit being approached from one side. In this case we would
write
lim H ( x ) = 1 and lim H ( x ) = 0.
x →0+ x →0−

3 Some rules for manipulating limits

Given constants α and β and that the limits

lim f ( x ) and lim g( x )

x→a x→a

exist then the following statements are true:

 
1. lim α f ( x ) + βg( x ) = α lim f ( x ) + β lim g( x );
x→a x→a x→a

Calculus chris.pringle@coventry.ac.uk
Limits Page 4 of 4

 
2. lim f ( x ) g( x ) = lim f ( x ) lim g( x );
x→a x→a x→a
 
3. lim f ( x )/g( x ) = lim f ( x )/ lim g( x ).
x→a x→a x→a

4 Two important limits

Two important limits are

sin θ cos θ − 1
lim =1 and lim = 0.
θ →0 θ θ →0 θ
The first of these can be proved in a number of ways, but perhaps the most elegant
(and certainly the one which requires least prior knowledge) is geometric.

Exercise
cos θ + 1
Prove the second of these two limits by multiplying the function by . You will
cos θ + 1
also need the first of the two inequalities.

Calculus chris.pringle@coventry.ac.uk