2.

6 Limits at Infinity, Horizontal Asymptotes

Math 1271, TA: Amy DeCelles

1. Overview
Outline:

1. Definition of limits at infinity

2. Definition of horizontal asymptote

3. Theorem about rational powers of x

4. Infinite limits at infinity

This section is about the “long term behavior” of functions, i.e. what happens as x gets really big
(positive or negative). Sometimes the function will approach a specific number as x gets big. If a
function f approaches a specific number L as x gets larger and larger (positive), we say that the
limit of f (x) as x approaches infinity is L and we write:

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

Similarly, if f approaches L as x becomes larger and larger negative,

lim f (x) = L
x→−∞

In the first case, the graph of f (x) flattens out on the right, and it approaches the line y = L. In
the second case, the graph flattens out on the left, approaching the line y = L. In either case this
line is called a horizontal asymptote of f (x).

The following theorem is helpful in evaluating infinite limits:

Theorem: If r is a positive rational number,

1
lim =0
x→∞ xr
Additionally, as long as xr is defined for negative values of x,
1
lim =0
x→−∞ xr

2. Examples
Example 1: Evaluate the following limit:
3x + 5
lim
x→∞ x−4
Solution:
 Notice that as x gets large, the top gets large and the bottom gets large (“ ∞
∞ ”), so we
can’t immediately tell what the behavior of the function is as x gets large. We can
think of this as a competition between the numerator and the denominator. Both are
getting larger and larger, and the question is: Does one of them outstrip the other? Or
do both the numerator and the denominator stay about even as they get larger? In
order to figure this out, we need to use the following technique: divide the numerator
and denominator by the highest power of x in the denominator. So here, we will divide
top and bottom by x:
3x+5


3x + 5 x

lim = lim x−4
x→∞ x − 4 x→∞
x
3 + x5


= lim
x→∞ 1 − 4


x

Now we can evaluate the limit of the top and the limit of the bottom:
3 + x5 limx→∞ 3 + x5



3+0
lim
= 4 = 1−0 =3
x→∞ 1 − 4


x limx→∞ 1 − x
So we can conclude that the numerator and the denominator stayed about even as they
grew larger. (This is because the highest power of x in the numerator is the same as
the highest power of x in the denominator.)

3x+5
Notice that this also means that the function f (x) = x−4 has a horizontal asymptote:
y = 3.
Example 2: Evaluate the following limit:
t2 + 2
lim
t→−∞ t3 + t2 − 1
Solution:
Notice that the limit of the top is infinite and the limit of the bottom is also infinite.
So we must divide the numerator and denominator by the highest power of t in the
denominator, which in this case is t3 :
t2 +2


t2 + 2 t3
lim = lim 3 2
t→−∞ t3 + t2 − 1 t→−∞ t +t −1


t3
1 2


t + t3

= lim
t→−∞ 1 + 1 − 13
t t
limt→−∞ 1t + t23


=
limt→−∞ 1 + 1t − t13

0+0
=
1+0−0
= 0
Since the limit is zero, we can conclude that the denominator outstripped the
numerator. (This is because the highest power of t in the numerator is smaller than
the highest power of t in the denominator.)

t2 +2
Notice that this means that the function f (t) = t3 +t2 −1 has a horizontal asymptote
y = 0.
Example 3: Evaluate the following limit:

t3 + t2 − 1
lim
t→−∞ t2 + 2
Solution:

Since the limit of the top is infinite and the limit of the bottom is infinite, we must
divide the numerator and denominator by the highest power of t in the denominator,
which in this case is t2 :
t3 +t2 −1


t3 + t2 − 1 t2
lim = lim
t2 + 2 t2 +2


t→−∞ t→−∞
t2
t + 1 − t12


= lim
1 + t22


t→−∞

t+1−0
= lim
t→−∞ 1+0
= lim (t + 1)
t→−∞
= −∞

So in this case the numerator outstripped the denominator. (This is because the highest
power of t in the numerator is greater than the highest power of t in the denominator.)

Example 4: Evaluate the following limit:

x+2
lim √
x→∞ 9x2 + 1
Solution:

This function is different from the three previous examples because it is not a rational
function. So we have to be a little more careful. The fact that there is a square root in
the denominator makes things more complicated. We have to take the square root into
account when we’re looking for the what power of x we should divide by. Looking at
the denominator by itself we can ask, “Which term is most important, when x gets
large?” In this case, the 9x2 is most important, because it will keep getting larger and
larger, eventually overwhelming the contribution of the +1. So if√we ignore the +1, we
can say that when x is large, the denominator is approximately 9x2 , i.e. it is
approximately 3x. So we act as if x is the highest power of x in the demominator.

So we divide top and bottom by x and watch our algebra carefully!

x+2


x+2 x
lim √ = lim √ 2

x→∞ 9x2 + 1 x→∞ 9x +1
x
 √
Since x is positive, x = x2 , and we can do the following:
x+2 x+2



x x
lim √ = lim √
9x2 +1 9x 2
√ +1
x→∞

x→∞


x x2
x+2


x
= lim q
x→∞ 9x2 +1


x2

1 + x2


= lim q
x→∞ 1


9+ x2


1+0
= √

9+0
1
=
3

x2 −1
Example 5: Find the horizontal and vertical asymptotes of f (x) = x2 −x−2 .
Solution:
To determine whether there are horizontal asymptotes we must evaluate the limits at
infinity.
x2 − 1
lim f (x) = lim
x→∞ x→∞ x2 − x − 2

1 − x12
= lim
x→∞ 1 − 1 − 22
x x
1−0
=
1−0−0
= 1

This means that the line y = 1 is a horizontal asymptote. Similarly, we can compute
that:
lim f (x) = 1
x→−∞

So y = 1 is the only horizontal asymptote.

To determine whether there are vertical asymptotes we check to see where the
denominator is zero. If we factor the denominator, we see that:

x2 − x − 2 = (x − 2)(x + 1)

so the denominator is zero when x = −1 and x = 2. So x = −1 and x = 2 are possible

vertical asymptotes. If we factor the numerator as well, we can see:
(x − 1)(x + 1)
f (x) =
(x − 2)(x + 1)
So there will be a hole at x = −1, because:
(x − 1)(x + 1) x−1 1
lim = lim =
x→−1 (x − 2)(x + 1) x→−1 x−2 3
 But there will be an asymptote at x = 2 because:

(x − 1)(x + 1) x−1
lim = lim
x→2− (x − 2)(x + 1) x→2− x − 2

and as x gets close to 2 from the left the numerator gets close to 1 (positive) and the
denominator gets close to zero and is negative. So,
x−1
lim = −∞
x→2− x−2

1+2ex
Example 6: Find the horizontal and vertical asymptotes for f (x) = 1−ex .
Solution:

To find the horizontal asymptotes we look at the limits at infinity. We know that ex
gets larger and larger as x → ∞, so:
1
1 + 2ex ex +2 0+2
lim = lim 1 = =2
x→∞ 1 − ex x→∞ −1 0−1
ex

We know that ex gets close to zero as x → −∞, so:

1 + 2ex 1+0
lim = =1
x→−∞ 1 − ex 1−0
So the lines y = 2 and y = 1 are horizontal asymptotes.

To find the vertical asymptote we notice that the denominator is zero when x = 0, and,
so when x → 0− , the denominator is positive, close to zero and the numerator is
positive, close to 3, so:
1 + 2ex
lim− =∞
x→0 1 − ex
and the line x = 0 is a vertical asymptote.