1-4 Limits and Continuity

The student will learn about: limits, finding limits, one-sided limits, infinite limits, and continuity.

Limits
The word limit is used in everyday conversation to describe the ultimate behavior of something, as in the limit of ones endurance or the limit of ones patience.

In mathematics, the word limit has a similar but more precise meaning.

Limits
Given a function f(x), if x approaching 3 causes the function to take values approaching (or equalling) some particular number, such as 10, then we will call 10 the limit of the function and write

In practice, the two simplest ways we can approach 3 are from the left or from the right.

Limits
For example, the numbers 2.9, 2.99, 2.999, ... approach 3 from the left, which we denote by x3 , and the numbers 3.1, 3.01, 3.001, ... approach 3 from the right, denoted by x3 +. Such limits are called one-sided limits.

Example 1 FINDING A LIMIT BY TABLES

Use tables to find

Solution :
We make two tables, as shown below, one with x approaching 3 from the left, and the other with x approaching 3 from the right.

Limits IMPORTANT!
This table shows what f (x) is doing as x approaches 3. Or we have the limit of the function as x approaches We write this procedure with the following notation.

lim 2x 4 10
x3

10

Def: We write

x c

lim f (x) L

or as x c, then f (x) L
if the functional value of f (x) is close to the single real number L H whenever x is close to, but not equal to, c. (on either side of c).
x f (x) 2 8 2.9 9.8 2.99 9.98 2.999 9.998 3 ? 3.001
10.002

3.01
10.02

3.1 10.2

4 12 6

Limits
As you have just seen the good news is that many limits can be evaluated by direct substitution.

Limit Properties
These rules, which may be proved from the definition of limit, can be summarized as follows. For functions composed of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers, root, limits may be evaluated by direct substitution, provided that the resulting expression is defined.

lim
xc

f (x) f (c)
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Examples FINDING LIMITS BY DIRECT SUBSTITUTION

1.

lim
x4

4 2

Substitute 4 for x.

2.

lim
x6

62 36 x2 4 x3 63 9

Substitute 6 for x.

Example
But be careful when a quotient is involved.
x2 x 6 0 lim x2 x2 0 Which is undefined!

But the limit exist!!!!

Graph it.

What happens at x = 2?

x2 x 6 (x 3)(x 2) lim lim lim (x 3) 5 x2 x2 x2 x2 x2

x2 x 6 NOTE : f ( x ) graphs as a straight line. x2 10

One-Sided Limit
We have introduced the idea of one-sided limits. We write
x c

lim f ( x ) K

and call K the limit from the left (or lefthand limit) if f (x) is close to K whenever x is close to c, but to the left of c on the real number line.
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One-Sided Limit
We write
xc

lim f ( x) L

and call L the limit from the right (or righthand limit) if f (x) is close to L whenever x is close to c, but to the right of c on the real number line.
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The Limit
Thus we have a left-sided limit:
x c

lim f ( x ) K

And a right-sided limit:

x c

lim f ( x) L

And in order for a limit to exist, the limit from the left and the limit from the right must exist and be equal.
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Example
f (x) = |x|/x at x = 0
x 1 x x 1 x
0

x0

lim lim

x0

The left and right limits are different, therefore there is no limit.
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Infinite Limits
Sometimes as x approaches c, f (x) approaches infinity or negative infinity.
Consider

lim

x2

x 2

From the graph to the right you can see that the limit is . To say that a limit exist means that the limit is a real number, and since and - are not real numbers means that the limit does not exist.
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Intro to Continuity
As we have seen some graphs have holes in them, some have breaks and some have other irregularities. We wish to study each of these oddities.

We will use our information of limits to decide if a function is continuous or has holes.
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Continuity
Intuitively, a function is said to be continuous if we can draw a graph of the function with one continuous line. I. e. without removing our pencil from the graph paper.

Definition
A function f is continuous at a point x = c if 1. 2. 3. f (c) is defined

lim f (x) exists

x c

lim f(x) f (c)

x c

THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF CONTINUITY

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Example
f (x) = x 1 at x = 2.

a. f (2) = 1

lim x 1 1 b. x 2
x2

The limit exist!

2

c. f (2) 1 lim x 1

Therefore the function is continuous at x = 2.

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Example
f (x) = (x2 9)/(x + 3) at x = -3

a. f (-3) = 0/0
b.

Is undefined!

x2 9 lim x 3 x 3

-6

-3

The limit exist!

c.

x2 9 lim f ( 3) x 3 x 3

-6

Therefore the function is not continuous at x = -3. You can use table on your calculator to verify this.
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Continuity Properties
If two functions are continuous on the same interval, then their sum, difference, product, and quotient are continuous on the same interval except for values of x that make the denominator 0. Every polynomial function is continuous.

Every rational function is continuous except where the denominator is zero.

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Continuity Summary.
Functions have three types of discontinuity. Consider x 2 4x 5
x 2x 15 Graph on your calculator with a standard window.
2

f (x)

1. Discontinuity at vertical asymptote.

2. Discontinuity at hole. 3. We have discontinuity with some functions that have a gap.
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Summary.
We learned about limits and their properties. We learned about left and right limits. We learned about continuity and the properties of continuity.

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ASSIGNMENT 1.4 On my website.

20, 21.

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