LIMIT

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What is a limit?
One of the most basic and fundamental ideas of calculus is limits.
Limits allow us to look at what happens in a very, very small region around a
point.

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Ways to Evaluate Limits:
Graphically – show graph and arrows traveling
from each side of the x-value to find limit
Numerically – show table values from both the
right and left of the x-value to discover limit
Analytically - algebraically

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The Limit of a Function
Let’s investigate the behavior of the function f defined by
f (x) = x2 – x + 2 for values of x near 2.
The following table gives values of f (x) for values of x close to 2 but not equal to
2.

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The Limit of a Function
From the table and the graph of f (a parabola) shown in
Figure 1 we see that when x is close to 2 (on either side of
2), f (x) is close to 4.

Figure 1 5
The Limit of a Function
In fact, it appears that we can make the values of f (x) as close as we like to 4
by taking x sufficiently close to 2.

We express this by saying “the limit of the function

f (x) = x2 – x + 2 as x approaches 2 is equal to 4.”

The notation for this is

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Example

Guess the value of

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The Limit of a Function
In general, we use the following notation.

This says that the values of f (x) approach L as x approaches a. In other words,
the values of f (x) tend to get closer and closer to the number L as x gets closer
and closer to the number a (from either side of a) but x  a.

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The Limit of a Function
An alternative notation for

is f (x)  L as xa

which is usually read “f (x) approaches L as x approaches a.”

Notice the phrase “but x  a” in the definition of limit. This means that in finding
the limit of f (x) as x approaches a, we never consider x = a. In fact, f (x) need
not even be defined when x = a. The only thing that matters is how f is defined
near a.

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Calculating Limits Using the Limit Laws
In this section we use the following properties of limits, called the Limit Laws, to
calculate limits.

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Finding a Limit of a Polynomial Function
Example Findlim (4 x 3  6 x.  1)
x 2

3 3
Solution lim (4 x  6 x  1)  lim 4 x  lim 6 x  lim 1
x 2 x 2 x2 x2

 4  23  6  2  1

 21

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Finding a Limit of a Rational
2
Function
x  2x  3
Example Find lim 2 .
x1 x  3 x  2

Solution Rule cannot be applied directly

since the denominator is 0. First factor the
numerator and denominator

x 2  2 x  3 ( x  3)( x  1) x  3
2
 
x  3x  2 ( x  2)( x  1) x  2

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Finding a Limit of a Rational Function
Solution Now apply Rule with

x 2  2and
x 3 x3
f ( x)  2 g ( x) 
x  3x  2 x2

so that f(x) = g(x) for allx  1 .

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Finding a Limit of a Rational Function
2
Solution x  2x  3 x3
lim 2  lim
x 1 x  3 x  2 x 1 x  2

1 3

1 2

 4

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Examples
Evaluate the following limits. Justify each step
using the laws of limits.
1. lim 3 x 2  2 x  5
x  3

 3x  2 
2. lim  
x 1
 x5 

3. lim 3 x 2  2 x
x 2

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When does a limit exist?
A limit exists if you travel along a function from the left side and from the right
side toward some specific value of x, and…

As long as that function meets in the middle, as long as the heights from the left
AND the right are the same, then the limit exists.

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When does a limit not exist?
A limit will not exist if there is a break in the graph of a function.

If the height arrived at from the left does not match the height arrived at from
the right, then the limit does not exist.

Key Point: If a graph does not break at a given x-value, a limit exists there.

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 Limits That Do Not Exist

If there is no single value that is approached

by f(x) as x approaches a, we say that f(x) does
not have a limit as x approaches a,
or lim fdoes
( x) not exist.
x 2

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 lim f ( x )  DNE
x4

lim f ( x )  DNE
x 1 lim f ( x )  2
x 3

lim f ( x )  1
x2
 Determining Whether a Limit Exists
Example Findlim f ( x)where
x 2

4 x  5 if x  2
f ( x)   .
3x  5 if x  2

Solution Construct a table and graph

x 1.9 1.99 1.999 2.001 2.01 2.1

f(x) 2.6 2.96 2.996 1.003 1.03 1.3

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Determining Whether a Limit Exists
Solution

f(x) approaches 3 as x gets closer to 2 from the

left,
f(x) approaches 1 as x gets closer to 2 from the
right.
lim f ( x)
Therefore, x 2 does not exist. 21
Finding the indicated limits by looking at the
Graph.

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Finding the indicated limits by looking at the
Graph.

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Example
The graph of a function g is shown in Figure. Use it to state the values (if they
exist) of the following:

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• Use the dividing out technique to evaluate limits of functions

• Use the rationalizing technique to evaluate limits of functions

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Dividing Out Technique

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Dividing Out Technique
We have studied several types of functions whose limits can be evaluated by
direct substitution.

In this section, you will study several techniques for evaluating limits of
functions for which direct substitution fails.

Suppose you were asked to find the following limit.

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Dividing Out Technique
Direct substitution fails because –3 is a zero of the denominator. By using a
table, however, it appears that the limit of the function as x approaches –3 is –5.

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Example – Dividing Out Technique
Find the limit.

Solution:
Begin by factoring the numerator and dividing out any common factors.

Factor numerator.

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Example – Solution cont’d

Divide out common

factor.

(x – 2) Simplify.

= –3 – 2 Direct substitution

= –5 Simplify.

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Dividing Out Technique
The dividing out technique should be applied only when direct substitution
produces 0 in both the numerator and the denominator.

An expression such as has no meaning as a real number.

It is called an indeterminate form because you cannot, from the form alone,
determine the limit.

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Dividing Out Technique
When you try to evaluate a limit of a rational function by direct substitution and
encounter this form, you can conclude that the numerator and denominator
must have a common factor.

After factoring and dividing out, you should try direct substitution again.

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Rationalizing Technique

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Rationalizing Technique
Another way to find the limits of some functions is first to rationalize the
numerator of the function. This is called the rationalizing technique.

We have known that rationalizing the numerator means multiplying the

numerator and denominator by the conjugate of the numerator.

For instance, the conjugate of + 4 is – 4.

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Example – Rationalizing Technique
Find the limit.

Solution:
By direct substitution, you obtain the indeterminate form .

Indeterminate form

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Example – Solution cont’d

In this case, you can rewrite the fraction by rationalizing the numerator.

Multiply.

Simplify.

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Example – Solution cont’d

Divide out common factor.

Simplify.

Now you can evaluate the limit by direct substitution.

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Example – Solution cont’d

You can reinforce your conclusion that the limit is by constructing a table, as
shown below, or by sketching a graph, as shown in Figure

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One-Sided Limits

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 One-Sided Limits

Limits of the form

lim f ( x)  L
xa

are called two-sided limits since the values of x

get close to a from both the right and left sides
of a.

Limits which consider values of x on only one

side of a are called one-sided limits.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12.1-40

 One-Sided Limits

The right-hand limit,

lim f ( x)  L
x a

is read “the limit of f(x) as x approaches a from

the right is L.”

As x gets closer and closer to a from the right

(x > a), the values of f(x) get closer and closer to
L.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12.1-41

 One-Sided Limits

The left-hand limit,

lim f ( x)  L
x a

is read “the limit of f(x) as x approaches a from

the left is L.”

As x gets closer and closer to a from the right

(x < a), the values of f(x) get closer and closer to
L.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12.1-42

 Finding One-Sided Limits of a Piecewise-
Defined Function
Example Find lim f ( x)and

lim f ( x)where
x2 x2

 x  6 if x  2
5 if x  2
f ( x)  
 1 x 2 if x  2
 2

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12.1-43

 Finding One-Sided Limits of a Piecewise-
Defined Function
Solution Since x > 2 in lim f ( x)use the formula
x2
1 2
f ( x)  x . In the limit lim f ( x,) where x < 2, use
2 x2

f(x) = x + 6.

1 2 1 2
lim f ( x)  lim x   2   2
x 2 x2 2 2

lim f ( x)  lim ( x  6)  2  6  8
x 2 x2

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12.1-44

Example – Evaluating One-Sided Limits
Find the limit as x  0 from the left and the limit as x  0 from the right for
f (x) = .

Solution:
From the graph of f, shown in
Figure, you can see
that f (x) = –2 for all x < 0.

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Example – Solution cont’d

So, the limit from the left is

= –2. Limit from the left

Because f (x) = 2 for all x > 0, the limit from the right is

= 2.

Limit from the right

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One-Sided Limits

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Example – Evaluating a Limit from Calculus

For the function given by f (x) = x2 – 1, find

Solution:
Direct substitution produces an indeterminate form.

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Example – Solution cont’d

By factoring and dividing out, you obtain the following.

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Example – Solution cont’d

= (6 + h)

=6+0

=6

So, the limit is 6.

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Infinite Limits

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Infinite Limits
Again, the symbol  is not a number, but the expression limxa f (x) =  is often
read as

“the limit of f (x), as approaches a, is infinity”

or “f (x) becomes infinite as approaches a”

or “f (x) increases without bound as approaches a”

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Infinite Limits

Another notation for limxa f (x) =  is

f (x)   as x  a

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Infinite Limits
This definition is illustrated graphically in Figure 12.

Figure 12

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Infinite Limits
A similar sort of limit, for functions that become large negative as x gets close to
a, is defined in Definition 5 and is illustrated in Figure 13.

Figure 13

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Infinite Limits

The symbol limxa f (x) = –  can be read as “the limit of

f (x), as x approaches a, is negative infinity” or “f (x) decreases without bound as
x approaches a.” As an example we have

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Infinite Limits
Similar definitions can be given for the one-sided infinite limits

remembering that “x  a–” means that we consider only values of x that are
less than a, and similarly “x  a+” means that we consider only x > a.

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Infinite Limits
Illustrations of these four cases are given in Figure 14.

Figure 14 58
Infinite Limits

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