Introductory Calculus II

MTH023
Week 3, lecture 1

Sergey Bocharov
Department of Foundational Mathematics, XJTLU
Sergey.Bocharov@xjtlu.edu.cn

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Limits
Why study limits?
Example
Consider an object (a car) moving in a straight line. The position
of the object at time t is given by some known function s(t). What
is the velocity of this object at time t?

Example
Calculate the area of a circle of radius r.

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Limits
Definition (Informal definition of limit)
Let f be a function, c and l some numbers. We say that
lim f (x) = l
x→c
if whenever x is “near” c but not at c, f (x) is “near” l.
y
y = f (x)

x
c

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Limits

Two things to note:

1) The value of f at c is irrelevant!

For example, consider


x − 1 if x 6= 2
f (x) =
2 if x = 2

Then limx→2 f (x) =

Or √
g(x) = x, x ∈ [0, 3)
Then limx→3 g(x) =

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Limits

2) The limit may not exist!

For example, consider


x − 1 if x < 2
h(x) =
x if x > 2

Then limx→2 h(x) does not exist.

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Limits
Definition (Informal definition of right limit)
Let f be a function, c and l some numbers. We say that
lim f (x) = l
x→c+
if whenever x > c is “near” c, f (x) is “near” l.
y

y = f (x)

x
c

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Limits
Right and left limits may fail to exist too...
Consider, for example,
1
f (x) = sin , x 6= 0
x

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But if right and left limits do both exist and

limx→c+ f (x) = limx→c− f (x) = l then limx→c f (x) also exists
and
lim f (x) = l.
x→c

For example, consider f (x) = |x|, x ∈ R.

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Limits
Definition (Formal definition of limit)
Let f be a function, c and l some numbers. We say that
lim f (x) = l
x→c
if for every  > 0 there exists δ > 0 such that
0 < |x − c| < δ ⇒ |f (x) − l| < 
y
y = f (x)

l+
l
l−

x
c

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Example
Let a 6= 0, b and c be some real numbers. Show that

lim (ax + b) = ac + b
x→c

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Example
Let c be some positive real number. Show that
√ √
lim x = c
x→c

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Example
Let c be some positive real number. Show that
1 1
lim = .
x→c x c

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Limits

Example
Show that
lim x2 + 1 = 5.
x→2

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Limits

It is possible that limx→c f (x) does not exist. But is it possible to

have two different numbers l1 and l2 such that limx→c f (x) = l1
and limx→c f (x) = l2 ?

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Limits
Definition (Formal definition of right limit)
Let f be a function, c and l some numbers. We say that
lim f (x) = l
x→c+
if for every  > 0 there exists δ > 0 such that
0 < x − c < δ ⇒ |f (x) − l| < 
y

l+
l y = f (x)
l−

x
c 15 / 20
Limits
Definition (Formal definition of left limit)
Let f be a function, c and l some numbers. We say that
lim f (x) = l
x→c−
if for every  > 0 there exists δ > 0 such that
−δ < x − c < 0 ⇒ |f (x) − l| < 
y

y = f (x)

l+
l
l−

x
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Limits

Example
Let 
x if x > 1
f (x) =
−x + 2 if x < 1
Show that limx→1+ f (x) = limx→1− f (x) = 1

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Other useful facts:
1) If f and g are some functions such that f (x) ≤ g(x) in some
deleted interval around c and limx→c f (x) and limx→c g(x) both
exist. Then
lim f (x) ≤ lim g(x)
x→c x→c

2) In -δ language, statement “limx→c f (x) 6= l” is

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Summary

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