CHAPTER 1

FUNCTIONS, LIMITS AND CONTINUITY

1.1 FUNCTIONS

Definition:

f(x) is a function of x if there is a procedure by which each value of x determines a unique

value of f(x).

The set of all permissible values of x is called the domain of the function and the set of
corresponding values of f(x) is called the range of the function.

Graph of functions

Graph of some basic functions

y y

x=y y =x2

x x

y y
y =x3 y=1/x

x x
Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

1.1.3 Composite functions

Definition

Given functions f and g, the composition of f with g, denoted by f  g , is the function

defined by
( f  g )(x) = f(g(x))

The domain of fog is defined to consist of all x in the domain of g for which g(x) is in the
domain of f.

Example 1

Let f ( x )  x 2  3 and g( x )  x , Find

a. f g
b. g f

Solution

a. f  g  f ( g( x ))
 f( x )
 ( x )2  3
 x3

b. g  f  g( f ( x ))
 g( x 2  3)
 x2  3

Example 2

Find
( f  g  h)( x ) if f ( x )  x , g( x )  1/ x, h( x )  x 3

Solution

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

( f  g  h)( x )  f ( g(h( x )))

 f ( g( x 3 ))

1
 3/2
x

Piecewise functions

The absolute value function f(x) = |x| is an example of a function that is defined piecewise
in the sense that the formula of f changes depending on the value of x.

Example 3

Sketch the graph

x if x  0
x 
 x if x  0

Solution
y

y=|x|

Example 4

Sketch the graph

0 x  1
 2
f ( x )  x 1  x  1
x x 1


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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

Example 5
A function f is defined by

1  x if x 1
f (x)   2
x if x 1

Evaluate f(0), f(1), f(2) and sketch the graph.

1.2 LIMITS

If the values of f(x) can be made as close as we like to L by taking values of x sufficiently
close to a (but not equal to a), then we write lim f ( x )  L which is read “the limit of f(x) as x
x a
approaches a is L”

1.2.1 Finding limits from given graph

Example 6

Make a conjecture(guess) about the value of the limit

x
a) lim
x0 x 11
sin x
b) lim
x0 x

Solution

b)
x(radians) sin x
x
±1.0 0.84147
±0.9 0.87036
±0.8 0.89670
±0.7 0.92031
±0.6 0.94107
±0.5 0.95885
±0.4 0.97355
±0.3 0.98507
±0.2 0.99335
±0.1 0.99833
±0.01 0.99998

sin x
The data in the table suggest that lim 1
x 0 x

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

And it is consistent with the graph of f(x)

1.2.2 Computing Limits

Basic properties of limits

Properties Examples

a. lim c  c lim 2  2
x a x a

b. lim x n  a n lim x 3  2 3  8
x a x 2

lim [ x 2  x ]  lim x 2  lim x

x 3 x 3 x 3
c. lim [ f ( x )  g( x )]  lim f ( x )  lim g( x ) 2
x a x a x a 3 3
 12
lim x (3  x )  lim x 2 . lim(3  x )
2
x 1 x 1 x 1
d. lim [ f ( x ).g( x )]  lim f ( x ). lim g( x ) 2
x a x a x a  1 (3  1)
4
2x lim 2x
x 2
lim f ( x ) lim 2

f ( x ) x a x 2 x 3 lim x 2  3
e. lim  , lim g( x )  0 x 2
x a g( x ) lim g( x ) x a
x a 4

7
lim 2( x  4)  2 lim ( x  4)
x 3 x 3
f. lim [cf ( x )]  c lim f ( x )
x a x a  2(7)
 14
g. lim n f ( x)  n lim f ( x), n  positiveint eger lim 4 2 x 3  7 x  51  4 lim ( 2 x 3  7 x  51)
x a x a x 2 x 2

lim f ( x)  0  4 81
x a
3

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

f (x) 0
If lim  , then the function f(x) and g(x) need to be simplified by factorization or
x a g( x ) 0
by multiplying with their conjugates.

Example 7

x2  x  2
Determine lim
x 1 3 x  3

Example 8
x 3
Determine lim
x 9 x9

1.2.3 The relationship between one-sided limits and two sided limits

The two sided limits of a function f(x) exists at a if and only if both of the one-sided limits
exist at a and have the same value; that is,

lim f ( x )  L if and only if lim f ( x )  L  lim f ( x )

x a x a x a

Example 9

1. lim( 2x  3)  5 exist because lim ( 2 x  3 )  lim ( 2 x  3 )  5

x 1 x 1 x 1

1.2.4 Infinite limits

1. If the function f increases without limit when x approaches a, then lim f ( x )  

x a
y

x
0 a
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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

2. If the function f decreases without limit when x approaches a, then lim f ( x )  

x a

x
0 a

3. If lim f ( x )   and lim f ( x )   or lim f ( x )   and lim f ( x )   then

x a x a x a x a
lim f ( x )  
x a

4. If a>0,
1
a. lim  
x a x  a

1
b. lim  
x a x  a
5. If the function f approaches L when x increases without limit, then lim f ( x )  L
x  
6. If the function f approaches M when x decreases without limit, then lim f ( x )  M
x  
7. For n>0
 1  1
a. lim 0 b. lim 0
x   
x
n
 x   
x
n

 f (x)  
8. If lim    , then we need to simplify the function by dividing the numerator
x   g( x )
  
and the denominator by the highest power of x

Example 10

x3
a. lim
x x4

x2  3
b. lim
x x4

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

Exercise 1.2

1. Given f ( x )  8 x 3  x 2  10 and g( x )  x 3  2x  4 , determine

f(x)
lim  lim g( x )
x   g( x ) x 2

Ans: 16

x 3  9x
2. a. Let h( x )  , find lim h( x )  lim h( x )
x 3  3x 2 x 3 x  

3x 2  2
b. Find lim
x  x7
Ans: a. 1 b. 3

3. Evaluate the following limits

x2  4
a. lim
x  2 x 2  4 x  12

5x 7  4x 5
b. lim
x  2x 4  3 x 7

1 -5
Ans: a. b.
2 3

4. Find the equations of the horizontal and vertical asymptotes of the curve
2x 2  3 x
y
x2 1

Ans: x  1, y2

x 2 , x  0

5. Given g( x )  2x , 0  x  3
8  x, x  3


a. Give the domain of g(x) in the interval form.

b. Find the following limits;
i) lim g( x )
x0

ii) lim g( x )
x2

iii) lim g( x )
x3

iv ) lim g( x )
x 

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

Ans: a. ( ,3)  (3,  )

b. 0,4, does not exist,  

1.3 CONTINUITY

Definition

A function f is said to be continuous at x = c if the following conditions are satisfied:

1. f(c) is defined
2. lim f ( x ) exists.
xc
3. lim f ( x )  f (c )
x c

Example 11

Determine whether the following functions are continuous at x = 2.

x2  4 x2  4
x2  4  
f (x)  g( x )   x  2 , x  2 h( x )   x  2 , x  2
x2  3  4
x2 x2

Exercise 1.3
 x2 x3

1. Given g( x )  kx  3 3  x  4
 10 x4

Find the value of k if g(x) is continuous at x=3, hence, determine whether the function is
continuous at x=4

Ans: k = 2, g(x) is not continuous at x = 3

x
 2 1 x0

2. Let f ( x )   x 2 0x2
 2 x  c x2


i) Determine whether f(x) is continuous at x=0
ii) Find the value of c such that f(x) is continuous at x=2

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

Ans: not continous, c = 8

 x x  2

 x 1  2  x  1
3. Consider the function f ( x )  
 x  3 1 x  6
3 x6
Test the continuity at x = -2 and x = 6

Ans: not continuous at x = -2 , continuous at x = 6

4. Find the value of m so that the function g is continuous

x2  x  6
 x  -3
g( x )   x  3
m x  -3


Ans: -5

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

1.4 LIMITS and CONTINUITY for TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS

Theorem

If c is any number in the natural domain of the stated trigonometric function, then

lim sin x  sin c lim cos x  cos c lim tan x  tan c

x c x c x c

lim csc x  csc c lim sec x  sec c lim cot x  cot c

x c x c x c

Theorem (The squeezing theorem)

Let f, g and h be functions satisfying g( x )  f ( x )  h( x ) for all x in some open interval

containing the number c, with the possible exception that the inequalities need not hold at
c. If g and h have the same limit as x approaches c, say lim g( x )  lim h( x )  L then f also
x c x c
has this limit as x approaches c, that is,
lim f ( x )  L
x c

Note: In the method of squeezing, the function f has a limit L at a number c by trapping
the function between two other functions g and h

h(x)

L f(x)

g(x)
x

The squeezing theorem is useful to proof the following theorem

Theorem

sin x 1  cos x
a) lim 1 b) lim 0
x 0 x x 0 x

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Chapter 1 Function, Limits and Continuity

Example 12

tan x sin 2x sin 3 x

a) lim b) lim c) lim
x 0 x x 0 x x 0 sin 5 x

Example 13

 x 2  1
Find the limit lim cos 

x 1
 x 1 

Exercise 1.4

Find the limits of the following functions

1 2
1. lim cos( ) 2. lim sin( )
x   x x
x  

 x  sinh
3. lim sin  4. lim
x    2  3x  h0 2h

sin3 sin 
5. lim 6. lim
x 0  x 0 2
sinx sin 2 x
7. lim 8. lim
x 0 x x 0 3x 2
sinx sin 6 x
9. lim 10. lim
x 0 5 x x 0 sin 8 x
tan7x h
11 . lim 12. lim
x 0 sin3x h0 tanh

Answer:

1. 1 2. 0
3 1
3.  4.
2 2
5. 3 6.  
1
7. 1 8.
3
3
9. 0 10.
4
7
11 . 12. 1
3

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