/LPLWV

y
Fromleft
notonthegraph

lim f ( x) L L Fromright
xoa

a a+ x
a
Wecanmakef(x)asclosetoL bychoosingx
ascloseto“a” butx  a
exist
lim f ( x) L œ lim f ( x) L lim f ( x)
xoa if and only if xoa x oa
 7KH&RQFHSWRIOLPLW
Example 1
x2  4
Considerthefollowinglimit lim
x o2 x  2

Fortheleftlimit:

x 4
2
lim 4
x o2 x  2
Fortherightlimit:

x2  4
lim 4
x o2 x  2

x2  4
Thenwesaythatthelimitexitssuchthat: lim 4
x o2 x  2
 /LPLWV7KDW'RHVQRW([LVW
Inmanycasesthelimitofafunctiondoesnotexist

Example 2

x 5 2
lim Does not exist because of the following
xo2 x  2

The left limit The right limit

x2  5 x2  5
lim f lim f
x o 2 x  2 x o 2 x  2
 &RPSXWLQJOLPLWV

1Tofindthelimitofacontinuous function:
directsubstitution(withx=a)willworkdirectly lim x  1 10
2
x o3
2Usealgebraicsimplification:
(factoringthenumeratoranddenominator)tocancelthedivergent
terms(ifany)thensubstitutedirectlywithx=a

x2  4 x2 x2 x2

lim lim lim 4
x o2 x  2 x o2 x2 x o2 1
Somealgebraic
simplifications x2  a2 ( x  a)( x  a)
x3  a3 ( x  a )( x 2  ax  a 2 )
x a
3 3
( x  a )( x  ax  a )
2 2
 Example 3
20
­3  x x  1 18
° 16
f(x) ®4 x 1 14

°x2  1 x ! 1 12
¯ 10
8
6
4
2
0
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

lim f ( x ) lim 3  x 2
x o1 x o1 lim f ( x ) 2
x o1
lim f ( x ) lim x  1
2
2
x o1 x o1
7HFKQLTXHVWR)LQG/LPLWV
 7KH6TXHH]H7KHRUHP

h(x)
y

L
g(x)
Example 4
f(x)
1
lim x sin 2
2
0 ??
x o0 x a x
Solution

We have that 1 d sin T d 1

1
Then 1 d sin 2 d 1
x
1
 x d x sin 2 d x 2
2 2

x
§ 2 1 ·
lim  x 2
d lim ¨ x sin 2 ¸ d lim x 2
x o0 x o0
© x ¹ x o0

§ 2 1 · 1
0 d lim ¨ x sin 2 ¸ d 0 lim x sin 2
2
0
x o0
© x ¹ x o0 x
 0RUH/LPLWLQJ7HFKQLTXHV

Rule 1

x n  an n 1
lim na
x oa x  a The proof is by long division

Example 5

x  32
5
x 25 5
5 1
lim lim 5u 2 5u 2 4
5 u16
x o2 x  2 x o2 x  2

80
Rule 2

x n  an n n m
lim m m
a
x oa x a m Try to prove it now

Example 6

x  32
5
x 2
5 5
5 53 5 2 5
lim 3 lim 3 3 u2 u2 u4
x o2 x  8 xo2 x  2 3 3 3
20
3
Rule 3

sin x
lim 1
x o0 x

Noting that

sin ax
lim a
x o0 x Why ?
The proof
C
q d area ' OAC
area ' OBD d area OAB B
1
1 1 2 1
cos x sin x d (1) x d (1) tan x x
2 2 2 O D A
sin x 1
cos x sin x d x d
cos x
x 1 OD
cos x d d cos x OD
sin x cos x OB
x 1 BD
lim cos x d lim d lim sin x BD
x o0 x o 0 sin x x o 0 cos x OB
x sin x AC
1 d lim d1 lim 1 tan x AC
x o 0 sin x OA
x o0 x
Example 7

sin 3x
lim 3
x o0 x

sin 5( x  1) sin 5 y
lim lim 5
x o1 x 1 y o0 y
Example 8

§ sin 4 x ·
tan 4 x ¨ ¸ sin 4 x 1
© cos 4 x ¹
lim lim lim
x o0 x x o0 x x o0 x cos 4 x

4 u1

4
 6RPH7ULJRQRPHWULF5XOHV

cos x  sin x 1
2 2

cos(x r y ) cos x cos y B sin x sin y

sin(x r y ) sin x cos y r cos x sin y
cos 2x cos x  sin x
2 2

Try to prove
sin 2x 2sin x cos x
1 1
cos x
2
(1  cos 2 x) sin x
2
(1  cos 2 x)
2 2
Try to prove
Example 9
§ x·
2sin 2 ¨ ¸
1  cos x ©2¹
lim lim
x o0 x x o0 x

§x·
sin ¨ ¸
§x· ©2¹
lim 2sin ¨ ¸
x o0
©2¹ x

§x·
sin ¨ ¸
§ x· ©2¹ 1
lim 2sin ¨ ¸ u lim 0u 0
x o0
© 2 ¹ x o0 x 2