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Failures To Have Limits Math 120 Calculus I

The document discusses different ways that limits can fail to exist. It provides examples of limits that diverge to positive or negative infinity as the independent variable approaches a value. One example is the limit of 1/(x-3)^2 as x approaches 3, which diverges to positive infinity. Another is the limit of 1/(x-3) as x approaches 3, which diverges to both positive and negative infinity. The document also discusses limits that have different left and right limits, such as a piecewise defined function that has a jump at a point. Finally, it mentions a limit like the limit of sin(1/x) as x approaches 0 that oscillates infinitely and fails to approach a single value.

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27 views2 pages

Failures To Have Limits Math 120 Calculus I

The document discusses different ways that limits can fail to exist. It provides examples of limits that diverge to positive or negative infinity as the independent variable approaches a value. One example is the limit of 1/(x-3)^2 as x approaches 3, which diverges to positive infinity. Another is the limit of 1/(x-3) as x approaches 3, which diverges to both positive and negative infinity. The document also discusses limits that have different left and right limits, such as a piecewise defined function that has a jump at a point. Finally, it mentions a limit like the limit of sin(1/x) as x approaches 0 that oscillates infinitely and fails to approach a single value.

Uploaded by

ary_reve
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Failures to have limits

Math 120 Calculus I


D Joyce, Fall 2013
Were primarily interested in limits that nding limits that exist. After all, every derivative
is a limit. But to understand a concept in mathematics, its important to know its boundaries,
and for this concept, its important to know some examples of limits that dont exist. That
is, as x approaches a, f(x) does not approach anything. When that happens, well say that
the lim
xa
f(x) does not exist.
One imporant way that limits dont exist is that they go o to innity. For example,
lim
x3
1
(x 3)
2
. As when x is close to 3, either slightly greater than 3 or slightly less than 3,
the denominator (x 3)
2
is a very small positive number, so its reciprocal is a very large
positive number. Well write lim
x3
1
(x 3)
2
= and say that the limit diverges to . You
can see thats what happens since the graph y = f(x) is asymptotic to the vertical line x = 3
getting closer nearer the top of the line.
A similar example is lim
x3
1
x 3
. When x is slightly greater than 3, the denominator x3
is a very small positive number, so its reciprocal is a very large positive number. But when
x is slightly less than 3, the denominator x 3 is slightly less than 0, so its reciprocal is near
. Well write lim
x3
1
x 3
= and say that the limit diverges to . The graph of this
function is also asymptotic to the vertical line x = 3, but this time on the left its near the
bottom of the line but on the right its near the top of the line.
Some times theres a jump at x = a. That doesnt happen when the function is given by
a single expression, but it can happen when the function is dened by cases. For example, if
we dene f by
f(x) =

x
2
if x < 3
2x if x 3
then there is a jump in the graph y = f(x) at x = 3. As x approaches 3 from the left,
f(x) = x
2
approaches 9. But as x approaches 3 from the right, f(x) = 2x approaches 6. We
can say the left limit is 9 while the right limit is 6. Since the number you get depends
on the direction youre approaching 3, the limit doesnt exist.
There are other ways that the limit might not exist. Consider the function f(x) = sin
1
x
.
The limit lim
x0
sin
1
x
does not exist. Imagine what happens as you let x approach 0 from
the right. Its reciprocal 1/x approaches +. As that happens the sine of it goes through
innitly many cycles, 0 to 1 to 0 to 1 to 0. That means y = sin
1
x
oscillates between 1 and
1 innitely many times; it is not approaching any particular number.
1
Math 120 Home Page at
http://math.clarku.edu/~djoyce/ma120/
2

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