AP Calculus BC Name: ______________________________ Blk: J

Limits and Continuity

2.1 Rates of Change and Limits

I. The Limit

Graph the function f  x   x  1 . Graph the function g  x  

 x  1 x  3 .
x 3

What is f  3 ? ___ What is g  3 ? _______________

Even though both functions aren’t quite the same, as x gets arbitrarily close to ___, both y-values get closer
to ___. We say the “_________” is ___, even though the function may not exist at x = 3.

Definition of Limit (using function g as an example):

The number ___ is the limit of the function g  x  as x approaches ___ if and only if, as x gets
arbitrarily close to ___ (but not equal to ___), the y-value gets closer to ___.

Notation:

Definition of Limit:

The number ___ is the limit of the function f  x  as x approaches ___ if and only if, for any positive
number ___ (no matter how small) there exists a positive number ___ such that if x is within ___
units of ___ (but not equal to ___), then f  x  is within ___ units of ___.

i.e. lim f  x   if and only if for any  0 there exists a  0 such that if
x c

0  , then 

Don’t stress about the formal definition – it’s very theoretical. For now it is enough to understand the
general idea.
II. Finding Limits Graphically

1. Consider the following piecewise function.

 x, 1  x  0 or 0  x  1

f  x   1, x  0
0, x  1 or x  1


lim f  x  lim f  x  lim f  x  f  1

x 1 x 1 x 1

lim f  x  lim f  x  lim f  x  f  0

x  0 x  0 x 0

lim f  x  lim f  x  lim f  x  f 1

x 1 x 1 x 1

For the limit to exist, the y-values of the function must get closer to some number ___ as x approaches some
number ___ from either side.

Notation (approaching from the left only):

Notation (approaching from the right only):

lim f  x   L  lim f  x  lim f  x 

x c x c  xc
III. Finding Limits Algebraically and the Indeterminate Form

x2  x
The functions f  x   x  1 and g  x   are almost the same.
x

x2  x
f  x  x 1 g  x 
x

What happens when you try to evaluate each limit by substituting the x-value?

x2  x
lim  x  1  lim 
x 0 x 0 x

 

0
The expression is _______________________. We __________ compute the limit this way since there is
0
a _________________ discontinuity at x = __. However the limit still exists as x approaches ___; it is ___.
0
How do we get around the without relying on a graph (which on its own, does not exactly prove it)?
0

x2  x
lim 
x 0 x
1. Determine the following limits.

 2  h
2
t 2  3t  2 4
lim 2 lim
t 2 t 4 h 0 h

IV. Properties of Limits (Limit Theorems)

Given lim f  x   and lim g  x   , the following theorems can be used. [Note: Both limits must
x c x c

already exist.]

i. lim  k  f  x    , k is a ________________
x c

ii. lim  f  x   g  x   
x c

iii. lim f  x   g  x  
x c

f  x
iv. lim  , L2 
x c g  x

v. lim k  , k is a ________________
x c

x2 f  x   g  x 
1. Given lim f  x   1 and lim g  x   2 , determine lim .
x 3 x 3 x 3 x 1
V. A Special Trigonometric Limit

Sometimes limits can be quite challenging to determine algebraically. Here is a special limit that is easily
visualized as x gets arbitrarily close to 0.

sin x
Consider lim . Try evaluating at x  0 .
x 0 x

sin x
It would appear, graphically, that lim  ,
x
x 0

but this is not a proof – it’s only a __________________.

VI. Squeeze Theorem (or Sandwich Theorem)

sin x
The special limit, lim  , can be proven using the Squeeze Theorem (not shown here).
x 0 x

If f  x    h  x ,

and lim f  x  
x c

and lim h  x   ,
x c

then lim g  x   .
x c

  1 
1. Use Squeeze Theorem to determine lim  x 2 cos  4   .
x 0
  x 
 sin x
2. Use the fact that lim  1 to determine the following limits.
x 0 x

sin 9 x
a. lim
x 0 4x

sin x
b. lim
x 0 2 x 2  4 x