Contents

CHAPTER III
LIMIT and CONTINUITY

First Year of Engineering Program

Department of Foundation Year

LIN Mongkolsery
sery@itc.edu.kh

2022-2023

Calculus 1 ITC 1 / 28
 Contents

Contents

1 Review of Functions

2 Limit

3 Continuity

Calculus 1 ITC 1 / 28
 Review of Functions

Bounded Function

Definition 1
A function f is said to be bounded above on interval I if there exists
a contant M ∈ R such that

∀x ∈ I , f (x) ≤ M.

A function f is said to be bounded below on interval I if there exists

a contant m ∈ R such that

∀x ∈ I , m ≤ f (x)

A function f is said to be bounded on interval I if it is bounded

below and bounded above. That is, there exits m, M ∈ R sucht that

∀x ∈ I , m ≤ f (x) ≤ M.

Calculus 1 ITC 2 / 28
 Review of Functions

Example 2
The functions tanh x is bouned, but coth x is not bounded because

−1 ≤ tanh x ≤ 1, ∀x ∈ R, and lim coth x = ∞.

x→0

Calculus 1 ITC 3 / 28
 Review of Functions

Periodic Function
Definition 3
A function f is called a periodic fucntion with period T ∈ R∗ if

f (x + T ) = f (x), ∀x ∈ I (1)

If there is a smallest positive number T satitifies equation (1) , then T is

called fundamental period

Calculus 1 ITC 4 / 28
 Review of Functions

Periodic Function
Example 4
The function f (x) = sin x is a periodic function with period 2kπ, k ∈ Z∗
and the fundamential period is 2π because

f (x + 2kπ) = sin(x + 2kπ) = sin x = f (x)

Calculus 1 ITC 5 / 28
 Limit

Limit
In this section, we denote I be an interval in R, c ∈ I , ` ∈ R and
f : I −→ R.
Definition 5
We say that f has limit ` as x tends to c iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (|x − c| < δ =⇒ |f (x) − `| < ).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = `.

x→c

Definition 6
We say that f has limit +∞ as x tends to c iff

∀A > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (|x − c| < δ =⇒ f (x) > A).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = +∞.

x→c

Calculus 1 ITC 6 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Definition 7
We say that f has limit −∞ as x tends to c iff

∀A < 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (|x − c| < δ =⇒ f (x) < A).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = −∞.

x→c

Definition 8
We say that f has limit ` as x tends to +∞ iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (x > δ =⇒ |f (x) − `| < ).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = `.

x→+∞

Calculus 1 ITC 7 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Definition 9
We say that f has limit ` as x tends to −∞ iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ < 0, ∀x ∈ I , (x < δ =⇒ |f (x) − `| < ).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = `.

x→−∞

Definition 10
We say that f has limit +∞ as x tends to +∞ iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (x > δ =⇒ f (x) > ).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = +∞.

x→+∞

Calculus 1 ITC 8 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Definition 11
We say that f has limit ` as x tends to c from the right iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (0 < x − c < δ =⇒ |f (x) − `| < ).

In this case, we write lim+ f (x) = `.

x→c

Definition 12
We say that f has limit ` as x tends to c from the left iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (0 < c − x < δ =⇒ |f (x) − `| < ).

In this case, we write lim f (x) = `.

x→c −

Calculus 1 ITC 9 / 28
 Limit

Theorem 1
If a function f has limit, then it is unique.

Theorem 2

 lim f (x) = `
+
x→c
lim f (x) = ` ⇐⇒
x→c  lim f (x) = `
x→c −

Theorem 3
Let α, `, `0 ∈ R, f , g : I → R. Suppose that lim f (x) = ` and
x→c
lim g (x) = `0 .
x→c

1 lim (f (x) ± g (x)) = ` ± `0 3 lim (f (x)g (x)) = ``0

x→c x→c
 
2 lim (αf (x)) = α` f (x) `
x→c 4 lim = 0 , if `0 6= 0.
x→c g (x) `
Calculus 1 ITC 10 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Theorem 4

 lim f (x) = +∞
1 x→c =⇒ lim (f (x) + g (x)) = +∞
 lim g (x) = +∞ x→c
x→c

 lim f (x) = +∞
2 x→c =⇒ lim (f (x) + g (x)) = +∞
 lim g (x) = `0 ∈ R x→c
x→c

 lim f (x) = +∞
3 x→c =⇒ lim (f (x)g (x)) = +∞
 lim g (x) = +∞ x→c
x→c

 lim f (x) = +∞
4 x→c =⇒ lim (f (x) + g (x)) = +∞
 lim g (x) = `0 ∈ R∗+ x→c
x→c

Calculus 1 ITC 11 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Corollary 13
Let Pm (x) = am x m + · · · + a0 and Qn (x) = bn x n + · · · + b0 be polynomials
of degree m and n, respectively, so that am 6= 0 and bn 6= 0. Then

Pm (x) Pm (x)
lim and lim
x→−∞ Qn (x) x→∞ Qn (x)

1 equals zero if m < n,

am
2 equals if m = n,
bn
3 does not exist if m > n. Or equivalently, the limit is ∞ or −∞

Calculus 1 ITC 12 / 28
 Limit

Limit

Definition 14
Let I be an interval in R, c ∈ I and f : I −→ C. We define

lim f (x) = lim Re (f (x)) + i lim Im (f (x))

x→c x→c x→c

We say that f has limit at c if Re (f ) and Im (f ) have limit at c.

Theorem 5 (Squeeze Theorem)

Let f , g , h : I → R. Suppose that

g (x) ≤ f (x) ≤ h(x), ∀x ∈ I .

If lim g (x) = lim h(x) = `, then lim f (x) = `.

x→c x→c x→c

Calculus 1 ITC 13 / 28
 Limit

Corollary 15
sin θ
lim = 1.
θ→0 θ

Proof. For 0 < θ < π/2,

θ
Area of sector =
2
1
Area of 4OPB = sin θ cos θ
2
1
Area of 4OTA = tan θ
2
Hence,
sin θ cos θ θ tan θ
≤ ≤
2 2 2

Calculus 1 ITC 14 / 28
 Limit

(i) Thus, for 0 < θ < π/2, we have

sin θ 1
cos θ ≤ ≤
θ cos θ
with
1
lim+ cos θ = 1, lim+
=1
θ→0 θ→0 cos θ

sin θ
By the Squeeze theorem, we obtain lim+ = 1.
θ→0 θ
(ii) For θ < 0, we can substitute α = −θ to get

sin θ sin(−α) − sin(α)

lim = lim+ = lim+ =1
θ→0− θ α→0 (−α) α→0 −α

(iii) Thus, combining the two one-sided limits, we get

sin θ
lim =1
θ→0 θ

Calculus 1 ITC 15 / 28
 Limit

Corollary 16

lim x ln x = 0.
x→0+

Proof. Let 0 < t < 1. Then

1 1 1
0 < t 3/2 < t < t 1/2 < 1 =⇒ 1/2 < < 3/2
t t t
Z 1 Z 1 Z 1
1 1 1
1/2
dt < dt < 3/2
dt, x ∈ (0, 1)
x t x t x t
h i1 h i1
2t 1/2 < − ln x < −2t −1/2
x x
1/2 −1/2
2(1 − x ) < − ln x < −2(1 − x )
3/2 1/2
2(x − x ) < −x ln x < −2(x − x )
Since the limit on the left and right-side are equal zero when x → 0+ , then
by squeeze theorem, we have
lim (−x ln x) = 0 =⇒ lim+ (x ln x) = 0
x→0+ x→0
Calculus 1 ITC 16 / 28
 Limit

Corollary 17
xn
1 lim x = 0, n ≥ 0
x→+∞ e

2 (ln x)α
2 ∀ (α, β) ∈ R∗ , lim =0
+ x→+∞ xβ

2
3 ∀ (α, β) ∈ R∗
+ , lim+ x β |ln x|α = 0
x→0
ax
4 ∀a ∈ ]1, +∞[ , ∀α ∈ R, lim = +∞
x→+∞ x β
5 ∀a ∈ ]1, +∞[ , ∀α ∈ R, lim ax |x|α = +∞.
x→+∞

Calculus 1 ITC 17 / 28
 Limit

Corollary 18

ln(1 + x)
lim =1
x→0 x
Proof. One we prove that

x2
x− ≤ ln(1 + x) ≤ x for x > 0
2
x ln(1 + x)
=⇒ 1− ≤ ≤ 1 for x > 0
2 x
ln(1 + x)
By squeeze theorem, we have lim+ = 1.
x→0 x
ln(1 + x)
Similary, we can show that lim = 1.
x→0 − x
ln(1 + x)
Thus, lim = 1.
x→0 x
Calculus 1 ITC 18 / 28
 Limit

Corollary 19
1
1
lim (1 + x) x = e. ex − 1
x→0
2 lim =1
x→0 x

Proof.
1 By applying Corollary 18, we have

1 1
lim (1 + x) x = e limx→0 x ln(1+x) = e
x→0

2 We have from Corollary 18 that

ln(1 + x)
lim =1
x→0 x
By letting x = e t − 1, then x → 0 implies t → 0. We have
ln(1 + e t − 1) t
lim =1 or lim =1
t→0 et − 1 t→0 e t −1
Calculus 1 ITC 19 / 28
 Continuity

Continuity

Definition 20
• Let c ∈ I and f : I → R. We say that f is continuous at c iff

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x ∈ I , (|x − c| < δ =⇒ |f (x) − f (c)| < ).

• f is said to be continuous on I if it is continuous at every point in I .

Theorem 6
Let c ∈ I and f : I → R. Then f is continuous at c if and only if

lim f (x) = f (c).

x→c

Calculus 1 ITC 20 / 28
 Continuity

Continuity

Theorem 7
Let c ∈ I , f : I → C. The following properties are equivalents:
1 f is continuous at c
2 f is continuous at c
3 Re(f ) and Im(f ) are continuous at c.

Calculus 1 ITC 21 / 28
 Continuity

Continuity

Theorem 8
Let λ ∈ K, f , g : I → C. Suppose that f , g are continuous on I , then
1 |f | is continuous on I .
2 f ± g is continuous on I .
3 λf is continuous on I .
4 f /g is continuous on I , if g (x) 6= 0, ∀x ∈ I .

Theorem 9
Let a ∈ I , f : I → C and g : J → C such that f (I ) ⊂ J. We define
g ◦ f : I → C by (g ◦ f )(x) = g (f (x)). If f is continuous at c and g is
continuous at f (c), then g ◦ f is continuous at c.

Calculus 1 ITC 22 / 28
 Continuity

Continuous

Theorem 10 (Max-Min Theorem)

If f (x) is continuous on the closed, finite interval [a, b], then there exist
numbers p and q in [a, b] such that for all x in [a, b],

f (p) ≤ f (x) ≤ f (q)

Thus f has the absolute minimum value m = f (p), taken on at the point
p, and the absolute maximum value M = f (q), taken on at the point q.

Remark: The theorem merely asserts that the minimum and maximum
values exist; it does not tell us how to find them. Some techniques for
calculating the minimum and maximum values will be introduced in
Chapter 4 .

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 Continuity

Continuous

Theorem 11 (Intermediate Value Theorem)

Suppose that f (x) is continuous on [a, b] and y0 is any number between
f (a) and f (b). Then, there is at least one number c ∈ [a, b] for which

f (c) = y0

Corollary 21
Suppose that f (x) is continuous on [a, b] and f (a) and f (b) have opposite
signs [i.e., f (a)f (b) < 0]. Then, there is at least one number c ∈ (a, b) for
which
f (c) = 0

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 Continuity

Example 22
1
Show that the equation x 2 − x − 1 = has a solution between
x +1
1 < x < 2.

Calculus 1 ITC 25 / 28
 Continuity

Uniformly Continuous

Definition 23
Let f : I → R. Then f is said to be uniformly continuous on I if

∀ > 0, ∃δ > 0, ∀x, x0 ∈ I : (|x − x0 | < δ =⇒ |f (x) − f (x0 )| < ).

Theorem 12
If f is uniformly continuous on I , then f is continuous on I .

Theorem 13 (Heine’s Theorem)

If f is continuous on [a, b] then f is uniformly continuous on [a, b].

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 Continuity

Uniformly Continuous

Theorem 14
Let f : (a, b) → R. Then f is uniformly continuous on (a, b) if and only if
f can be continuously extended to [a, b]. That is, there is a continuous
function g : [a, b] → R which satisfies

f (x) = g (x), x ∈ (a, b).

Calculus 1 ITC 27 / 28
 Continuity

Uniformly Continuous

Definition 24
1 Let f : I → R. We say that f is lipschitzian if and only if there is

L ≥ 0 such that

∀(x1 , x2 ) ∈ I 2 , |f (x1 ) − f (x2 )| ≤ L |x1 − x2 | .

2 The function f : I → I is called contractive if and only if it is

lipschitzian with L ∈ [0, 1).

Theorem 15
Let f : I → R. If f is lipschitzian, then f is uniformly continuous.

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