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1.5 Limits Notes

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59 views

1.5 Limits Notes

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mohamed
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Calculus 12 Name __________________

Sec 1.5 The Limit of a Function Date ___________________

Suppose I have one whole pizza and I decide to eat half of it. (½) (mmm) I can still
hear my stomach growling from hunger, so I decide to eat half of what’s remaining.
(___). I am starting to get annoyed, because I am STILL hungry. So I decide to
eat half of what I just ate. (___). And so it goes on… Notice that I will never eat
the whole pizza under this premise, but the more I eat, the closer I will get to
having eaten the whole pizza. We say that the limit is 1.

1. Limits
Limits can be used to describe how a function behaves as the independent variable x (input
number) approaches a certain value, y (output number), even if the output value does not exist.

Example 1: Consider the function f ( x )  2 x  3 and suppose we select input numbers, x,


closer and closer to the number 4. Fill in the input-output table and take note of what happens to
the output numbers.

Numerical representation:

x 2 3.6 3.9 3.99 3.999 4.001 4.01 4.1 4.8 5


f ( x)

Here is a graphical representation:

Verbally:
As x approaches 4, __________________

As x  4 , ___________

OR algebraically: lim
x

*We could have evaluated at x = 4 (this does not always work!)

Sec 1.5 The Limit of a Function Page 1 of 4


Definition of a Limit
Note: The concept of a limit is CENTRAL to calculus – we will concentrate today on an intuitive
introduction to limits

Limits can be used to describe how a function behaves as the independent variable moves
towards a certain value.

Definition: lim f ( x ) = L is read, “the limit of f of x as x approaches a equals


x ®a
L”. It means that as

x9
Example 2: Make a conjecture about the value of the limit lim numerically and graphically.
x 9 x 3

x 8 8.9 8.99 8.999 9 9.001 9.01 9.10 10


f ( x)

y
7

x
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
-1

* Note: It is important to graph as well as use a table of values so that you can
visually see what is happening.

The existence of a limit as x  a doesn’t always depend on how the function may or may not be
defined at a.

Sec 1.5 The Limit of a Function Page 2 of 4


2. One-sided and Two-sided Limits
Example 3: Use a graph and input-output table to find each of the limits for the function
1
F ( x )  , if they exist:
x
a) lim F ( x ) b) lim F ( x )
x 0 x 0

x f(x)

In order for a limit to exist, _______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________.
We use the notation:
lim f ( x ) to indicate the limit from the ________
x a

lim f ( x ) to indicate the limit from the ________


x a 

Theorem – A function f ( x ) has a limit as x approaches “a” if and only if the right-hand and
left-hand limits at “a” exists and are equal.
lim f ( x )  L iff lim f ( x )  L  lim f ( x )
x a x a x a

Example 4: Find the limits.


A.
a) lim f x   f) lim f x  
x 2 x  1

b) lim f ( x ) = g) lim f x  
x ®2- x  1

c) lim f ( x ) = h) lim f x  
x ®2 x  1

d) f (2) = i) f (–1) =

e) lim f x   j) lim f x  
x 0 x 1

Sec 1.5 The Limit of a Function Page 3 of 4


B.
a) lim g( x ) = e) lim g( x ) =
x ®1+ x ®–1+

b) lim g( x ) = f) lim g( x ) =
x ®1- x ®-1-

c) lim g( x ) = g) lim g(x ) =


x®1 x ®-1

d) lim g( x ) = h) g( -1) =
x ®0

3. Infinite Limits and Vertical Asymptotes


If the values of f ( x ) increase/decrease indefinitely as x approaches “a” from the right or left, the
limit does not exist. However, we will write ∞ or –∞.

Example 5: Find the limits.


y
a) lim f ( x ) =
x ®0+

b) lim f ( x ) =

x ®0-

c) lim f ( x ) =
x
x ®0
   



Definition: Vertical Asymptote


The line x = a is a vertical asymptote of the graph of a function y = f ( x ) if either

If both one-sided limits are the same, then we can write:


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

Example 6
1 1
a) Graph and find lim . b) Graph and find lim .
x 3 ( x  3) 2 x 3 ( x  3) 2

Sec 1.5 The Limit of a Function Page 4 of 4

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