Indeterminate forms and Optimisation

Dr Ramasu, Dr Hagos, Prof Gatsinzi and Ms Samuel

April 12, 2025

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 1 / 26
 Overview

1 Indeterminate forms and L’Hôpital’s rule

Indeterminate form 0/0
L’Hôpital’s rule applied to one-sided limits
Indeterminate forms ∞/∞, ∞ · 0, ∞ − ∞

2 Applied Optimization Problems

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 2 / 26
 If two continuous functions f (x ) and g (x ) are both zero at x = a, then

f (x )
lim
x →a g (x )

can not be found by substituting x = a.

The substitution produces 0/0, a meaningless expression, which we
can not evaluate.
0/0 is used as a notation for an expression known as an
Indeterminate form.
Other meaningless expressions often occur, such as ∞/∞, ∞ · 0,
∞ − ∞, 00 , and 1∞ which can not be evaluated in a consistent way.
These are called Indeterminate forms as well.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 3 / 26
 L’Hôpital’s rule

L’Hôpital’s rule
Suppose that f (a) = g (a) = 0, that f and g are differentiable on an open
interval I containing a, and that g ′ (x ) ̸= 0 on I if x ̸= a. Then

f (x ) f ′ (x )
lim = lim ′
x →a g (x ) x →a g (x ),

assuming that the limit on the right side of the equation exits.

Example
The following limits involve 0/0 indeterminate forms, so we apply
L’Hôpital’s rule. In some cases it must be applied repeatedly
3x − sin x 3 − cosx 3 − cosx
(a) lim = lim = =2
x →0 x x →0 1 1 x =0

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 4 / 26
 Example (ctd)
√ √1
1+x −1 2 1+x 1
(b) lim = lim =
x →0 x x →01 2
√ x
1+x −1− 2 0
(c) lim 0; Apply L’Hôpital’s rule.
x →0 x2
1 − 21 − 1
2 (1 + x )
= lim 2
Still 00 ; Apply L’Hôpital’s rule.
x →0 2x
3
− 1 (1 + x ) − 2 1
= lim 4 =− Not 00 ; Limit is found
x →0 2 8

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 5 / 26
 Indeterminate forms

Example (ctd)
x − sin x 0
(d) lim 0; Apply L’Hôpital’s rule.
x →0 x3
1 − cos x
= lim Still 00 ; Apply L’Hôpital’s rule.
x →0 3x 2
sin x
= lim Still 00 ; Apply L’Hôpital’s rule.
x →0 6x
cos x 1
= lim = Not 00 ; Limit is found
x →0 6 6

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 6 / 26
 Using L’Hôpital’s rule

Here we give a summary of the procedure followed in the first example.

Using L’Hôpital’s rule
When finding

f (x )
lim
x →a g (x )

by L’Hôpital’s rule, we continue to differentiate f and g , so long as we still

get the indeterminate form 0/0 at x = a. But as soon as one or the other
of these derivatives is different from zero at x = a, we stop differentiating.
L’Hôpital’s rule does not apply when either the numerator or denominator
has a finite nonzero limit.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 7 / 26
 Example 2

Be careful to apply L’Hôpital’s rule correctly

1 − cos x 0
lim
x + x2
x →0 0
sin x 0
= lim Not
x →0 1 + 2x 0
It is tempting to try apply L’Hôpital’s rule again, which would result in
cos x 1
lim = ,
x →0 2 2
but this is not the correct limit. L’Hôpital’s rule can be applied only to
sin x
limits that give the Indeterminate forms, and lim does not give
x →0 (1 + 2x )
an Indeterminate form. Instead, this limit is 01 = 0, and the correct answer
for the original limit is 0.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 8 / 26
 L’Hôpital’s rule applied to one-sided limits

Example
3: In this example the one-sided limits are different.
sin x 0
(a) lim+ 2 0
x →0 x
cos x
= lim+ =∞ Positive for x > 0
x →0 2x
sin x 0
(b) lim− 2 0
x →0 x
cos x
= lim− = −∞ Negative for x < 0
x →0 2x

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 9 / 26
 Indeterminate forms ∞/∞, ∞ · 0, ∞ − ∞

Sometimes when we try to evaluate a limit as x → a by substitution

x = a, we get an Indeterminate form like ∞/∞, ∞ · 0, ∞ − ∞, instead of
0/0. We first consider the form ∞/∞.
More advanced treatments of calculus prove that L’Hôpital’s rule applies
to the Indeterminate form ∞/∞, as well as to 0/0. If f (x ) → ±∞ and
g (x ) → ±∞ as x → a.

f (x ) f ′ (x )
lim = lim ′
x →a g (x ) x →a g (x )

provided the limit on the right exists.

In the notation x → a, a may be either finite or infinite. Moreover, x → a
may be replaced by the one-sided limits x → a+ or x → a− .

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 10 / 26
 Example 4

Find the limits of these ∞/∞ forms:

sec x ln x ex
1 lim 2 lim √ 3 lim
x →π/2 1 + tan x x →∞ 2 x x →∞ x 2

Solution
(a) The numerator and denominator are discontinuous at x = π2 , so we
investigate the one-sided limits there. To apply L’Hôpital’s rule , we
can choose I to be any open interval with x = π2 as an endpoint.
sec x ∞
lim ∞ from the left so we apply L’Hôpital’s rule
x →(π/2)− 1 + tan x
sec x tan x
= lim = lim sin x = 1
x →(π/2) − sec2 x x →(π/2)−
The right-hand limit if 1 also, with (−∞)/(−∞) as the
indeterminate form. Therefore. the two sided is equal to 1.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 11 / 26
 Solution ctd

ln x 1/x 1
(b) lim √ = lim √ = lim √ = 0
x →∞ 2 x x →∞ 1/ x x →∞ x
ex ex ex
(c) lim 2 = lim = lim =∞
x →∞ x x →∞ 2x x →∞ 2
Now we turn our attention to the Indeterminate forms ∞ · 0 or ∞ − ∞

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 12 / 26
 Indeterminate forms ∞ · 0

Example
  √
1 (b) lim+ x ln x
(a) lim x sin x →0
x →∞ x
Solution
lim x sin x1 = lim+ 1 sin h
= 1 ∞ · 0: Let h = 1



(a)
h sin h = lim+ h x
x →∞ h →0 h →0
√ ln x
(b) lim+ x ln x = lim+ √ ∞ · 0 converted to ∞/∞
x →0 x →0 1/ x
1/x
= lim+ L’Hôpital’s rule applied
x →0 1/2x 3/2
√

= lim+ −2 x = 0
x →0

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 13 / 26
 Indeterminate forms ∞ − ∞

Example
Find the limit of this ∞ − ∞ form:
 
1 1
lim −
x →0 sin x x

Solution If x → 0+ , then sin x → 0+ and

1 1
− → ∞ − ∞.
sin x x
Similarly x → 0− , then sin x → 0− and
1 1
− → −∞ − (−∞) = −∞ + ∞.
sin x x
Neither form reveals what happens in the limit. To find out, we first
combine the fractions:
Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 14 / 26
 ctd

1 1 x − sin x
− = Common denominator is x sin x
sin x x x sin x
Then we apply L’Hôpital’s rule to the result

x − sin x
 
1 1 0
lim − = lim
x →0 sin x x x →0 x sin x 0
1 − cos x 0
= lim Still
x →0 sin x + x cos x 0
sin x 0
= lim = = 0.
x →0 2 cos x − x sin x 2

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 15 / 26
 Indeterminate Powers: 1∞ , 00 and ∞0

Limits that lead to the indeterminate forms 1∞ , 00 and ∞0 can

sometimes be handled by first taking the logarithm of the function.
We use L’Hôpital’s rule to find the limit of the logarithm expression
and then exponentiate the result to find the original function limit.

Process
If limx →a ln f (x ) = L, then

lim f (x ) = lim e ln f (x ) = e L
x →a x →a

Here a may be either finite or infinite.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 16 / 26
 Example 7
1
Apply L’Hôpital’s rule to show that limx →0+ (1 + x ) x = e
Solution The limit leads to the indeterminate form 1∞ . We let
1
f (x ) = (1 + x ) x and find lim+ ln f (x ). Since
x →0

1 1
ln f (x ) = ln(1 + x ) x = ln(1 + x ),
x
L’Hôpital’s rule now applies to give

ln(1 + x ) 0
lim+ ln f (x ) = lim+
x →0 x →0 x 0
1
1+x
= lim+ L’Hôpital’s rule applied
x →0 1
1
= =1
1
1
Therefore, lim+ (1 + x ) x = lim+ f (x ) = lim+ e ln f (x ) = e 1 = e.
x →0 x →0 x →0
Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 17 / 26
 Example 8

Example
1
Find limx →∞ x x .

Solution
1
The limit leads to the indeterminate form ∞0 . We let f (x ) = x x and find
1 ln x
lim ln f (x ). Since ln f (x ) = ln x x = ,
x →∞ x
L’Hôpital’s rule gives
ln x ∞
lim ln f (x ) = lim
x →∞ x →∞ x ∞
1/x
= lim L’Hôpital’s rule applied
x →∞ 1
0
= = 0.
1 1
Therefore, lim x x = lim f (x ) = lim e ln f (x ) = e 0 = 1
x →∞ x →∞ x →∞

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 18 / 26
 Exercises

Evaluate the following limits

xa − 1
1 lim b
x →1 x − 1
√
2 lim+ x x
x →0
2 x
 
3 lim 1 +
x →∞ x
2x − 3 2x +1
 
4 lim
x →∞ 2x + 5
ex
5 lim n
x →∞ x

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 19 / 26
 Optimization Problems

Steps in Solving Optimization problems

(1) Read the problem carefully. If relevant, make a drawing.
(2) Make a list of appropriate variables and constants, noting
what varies, what stay fixed, and what units are used. Label
the measurements on your drawing, if one exists.
(3) Translate the problem to an equation involving a quantity Q
to be maximized or minimized. Try to represent Q in terms
of the variables of step 2.
(4) Try to express Q as a function of one variable. Use the
procedure developed previously to determine the maximum
or minimum values and the points at which they occur.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 20 / 26
 Example
Maximizing Volume: An open-top box is to be made by cutting small
congruent squares from the corners of a 12cm by 12cm sheet of tin and
bending up the sides. How large should the squares cut from the corners
be to make the box hold as much as possible?
Solution:

Figure: a Figure: b

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 21 / 26
 We start with Figures a and b. In the figures, the corner squares are x cm
on a side. The volume of the box is a function of this variable:

V (x ) = x (12 − 2x )2 = 144x − 48x 2 + 4x 3 . [V = hlw ]

Since the sides of the sheet of tin are only 12cm long, x ≤ 6 and the
domain of V is the interval 0 ≤ x ≤ 6. To find the maximum value, we
first find the critical numbers of V .
dV
= 144 − 96x + 12x 2 = 12(12 − 8x + x 2 ) = 12(2 − x )(6 − x ).
dx
Of the two zeros, x = 2 and x = 6, only x = 2 lies in the interior of the
function?s domain and makes the critical point list. The values of V at
this one critical point and two endpoints are

Critical point value:V (2) = 128

Endpoint values:V (0) = 0, V (6) = 0.

The maximum volume is 128cm3 . The cutout squares should be 2cm on a

side.
Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 22 / 26
 Example (Shortest distance)
Find the point on the parabola y 2 = 2x that is closest to the point (1, 4).

Solution:
The distance between the point (1, 4) and the point
(x, y ) is
q
d = (x − 1)2 + (y − 4)2 .

But if (x, y ) lies on the parabola, then x = 21 y 2 , so

the expression for d becomes
r
1
d = ( y 2 − 1)2 + (y − 4)2 .
2
Instead of minimizing d, we minimize its square:
1
d 2 = f (y ) = ( y 2 − 1)2 + (y − 4)2 . (1)
2
Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 23 / 26
 Differentiating (1), we obtain

f ′ (y ) = y 3 − 8.

So, f ′ (y ) = 0 when y = 2. Check that f ′ (y ) < 0 when y < 2 and

f ′ (y ) > 0 when y > 2. The corresponding value of x = 21 y 2 = 2. The
√
point is (2, 2) and d = 5.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 24 / 26
 Example
Maximizing Area: A hobby store has 20 ft of fencing to fence off a
rectangular area of an electric train in one corner of its display room. The
two sides up against the wall require no fence. What dimensions of the
rectangle will maximize the area? What is the maximum area?

Solution:
If we let x = the length, in feet, of one side and y = the length, in feet, of
the other side, then, since the sum of the length must be 20 ft, we have

x + y = 20 and y = 20 − x.

Thus, the area is given by

A = xy = x (20 − x ) = 20x − x 2 .

Now we find the maximum value of A(x ) = 20x − x 2 over the interval
(0, 20).

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 25 / 26
 Exercise

Work out Exercise 4.6 Questions 1-9 from our reference book
George B. Thomas , Maurice D. Weir & Joel R. Hass. 2010. Thomas?
Calculus, 13th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Boston.

Ramasu, Hagos, Gatsinzi and Samuel (BIUST) Indeterminate forms and Optimisation April 12, 2025 26 / 26