LIMIT OF FUNCTION

1. Limit of a function f(x) is said to exist as x  a when,

Limit f (a  h) = Limit f (a + h) = some finite value M.
h 0 h0

(Left hand limit) (Right hand limit)

2. Indeterminant Forms:
0, , 0 , º, 0º,and 1 .
0 
3. Standard Limits:
1
Limit
sin x Limit tanx Limit tan x
x = x 0 x = x 0
x 0 x
x
Limit sin 1x Limit e  1 Limit n(1  x )
= x 0 = x 0
x x = x 0 x =1

x
1 x
Limit (1 + x)1/x = Limit 1   = e, Limit a  1 = log a, a > 0,
x 0 x   x x 0
x e

n n
Limit x  a = nan – 1.
x a
x a

4. Limits Using Expansion

x ln a x 2 ln2 a x 3 ln3 a
(i) a x 1    .........a  0
1! 2! 3!

x x2 x3
(ii) ex  1     ......
1 ! 2! 3!

x2 x3 x4
(iii) ln (1+x) = x     .........for  1  x  1
2 3 4

x3 x5 x7
(iv) sin x x     .....
3! 5! 7!

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 x2 x4 x6
(v) cosx 1     .....
2! 4! 6!

x 3 2x 5
(vi) tan x = x    ......
3 15
(vii) for |x| < 1, n  R (1 + x)n

n(n  1) 2 n(n  1)(n  2) 3

= 1 + nx + x + x + ............
1. 2 1. 2 . 3

5. Limits of form 1 , 00, 0

Also for (1) type of problems we can use following rules.

lim (1 + x)1/x = e, lim [f(x)]g(x) ,

x 0 x a

lim [ f ( x )1] g( x )
where f(x)  1 ; g(x) as x  a = e x  a

6. Sandwich Theorem or Squeeze Play Theorem:

If f(x)  g(x)  h(x)  x & Limit f(x) =  = Limit h(x) then Limit g(x) =  .
x a x a x a

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