2 Limit

2.1 De…nition of Limit

If f is some function then
lim f (x) = L
x!a

is read " as x approaches a the limit of f (x) is L." It means that if you choose values of x which are close but not equal
to a, then f (x) will be close to the value L; Moreover, as x gets closer and closer to a, f (x) gets closer and closer to L.
The following alternative notation is sometimes used

f (x) ! L as x ! a

(read " as x approaches a, f (x) approaches L ").

When we are computing limits, the question that we are really asking is what y value is our graph approaching as we
move in towards x = a on our graph. We are not asking what y value the graph takes at the point in question. In other
words, we are asking what the graph is doing around the point x = a.

Example 2.1.1 If f (x) = 3x 2 then

lim f (x) = 4
x!2

, because if you substitute numbers x close to 2 in f (x), the result will be close to 5.

y 8

-2 2 4
-2 x
y = 3x 2

Example 2.1.2 Estimate the value of the following limit.

x2 + 4x 12
lim :
x!2 x2 2x

Solution : We will choose values of x that get closer and closer to x = 2 and plug these values into the function.

x f (x) x f (x)
2:5 3:4 1:5 5:0
2:1 3:857142857 1:9 4:157894737
2:01 3:985074627 1:99 4:015075377
2:001 3:998500750 1:999 4:001500750
2:0001 3:999850007 1:9999 4:000150008
2:00001 3:999985000 1:99999 4:000015000

From this table it appears that the function is going to 4 as x approaches 2, so

x2 + 4x 12
lim = 4.
x!2 x2 2x
Also notice that we can’t actually plug in x = 2 into the function as this would give us a division by zero error.

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 y 10

0
0 1 2 3 4
x
x2 +4x 12
y= x2 2x

De…nition 2.1.3 (Formal De…nition of Limit) Let f (x) be a function de…ned on an interval that contains x = a,
except possibly at x = a. Then we say that,
lim f (x) = L
x!a

if for every number " > 0 there is some number > 0 such that

0 < jx aj < =) jf (x) Lj < " (1)

The quantity " is how close you would like f (x) to be to its limit L; the quantity is how close you have to choose x
to a to achieve this. To prove that lim f (x) = L you must assume that someone has given you an unknown " > 0, and
x!a
then …nd a positive for which (1) holds. The you …nd will depend on ".

Example 2.1.4 By using the formal de…nition, show that lim (3x 2) = 4.
x!2
Solution : According to the de…nition, if we want to prove

lim (3x 2) = 4
x!2

then for every number " > 0, we need to produce a corresponding number > 0 such that

j(3x 2) 4j < " whenever 0 < jx 2j < .

Now we can rewrite the …rst inequality above :

j(3x 2) 4j < " () j3x 6j < "

() 3j 2j < "
"
() jx 2j <
3
So we see that if we put = 3" , we should be …ne. But let’s check it : Whenever 0 < jx 2j < = "
3 we get
"
jx 2j < ) 3j 2j < "
3
) j3x 6j < "
) j(3x 2) 4j < "
"
So for every " > 0, if we choose = 3 we should get what we want.

When we let " x approach a" we allow x to be both larger or smaller than a, as long as x gets close to a. Here are the
informal de…nitions for the two one sided limits.

De…nition 2.1.5 (Right-handed limit) We say

lim f (x) = L
x!a+

provided we can make f (x) as close to L as we want for all x su¢ ciently close to a and x > a without actually letting x
be a.

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De…nition 2.1.6 (Left-handed limit) We say

lim f (x) = L
x!a

provided we can make f (x) as close to L as we want for all x su¢ ciently close to a and x < a without actually letting x
be a.

Theorem 2.1.7 Given a function f (x) if,

lim f (x) = lim f (x) = L

x!a+ x!a

then
lim f (x) = L:
x!a

Likewise, if
lim f (x) = L:
x!a

then,
lim f (x) = lim f (x) = L:
x!a+ x!a

From this fact, we can also say that if the two one-sided limits have di¤erent values,i,e

lim f (x) 6= lim f (x)

x!a+ x!a

then the normal limit will not exist.

Example 2.1.8 Let 8

< x 1 , if x < 0
f (x) = 0 ,if x = 0
:
x+1 , if x > 0

y 3

-3 -2 -1 1 2 3
x
-1

-2

-3

y = f (x)
Here we have
lim f (x) = 1 6= lim f (x) = 1:
x!0 x!0+

Hence
lim f (x)
x!0

does exist.
x3
Example 2.1.9 Let f (x) = .
x

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 y 25

20

15

10

-4 -2 0 2 4
x
x3
y= x

Since
lim f (x) = lim f (x) = 0
x!0+ x!0

,we have
lim f (x) = 0.
x!0

This example shows us that, we can have limits at a point even if the function itself does not de…ned at that point.

Example 2.1.10 Let 8 2

< x , if x < 1
f (x) = 2 ,if x = 1 :
:
x+2 , if x > 1

4
y
3

-2 -1 1 2 3 4
x
-1

-2

y = f (x)
In this case
lim f (x) = lim f (x) = 1 = lim f (x)
x!1+ x!1 x!1

but
f (x) = 2.

Note that, even if a function exists at a point, there is no reason to think that the limit will have the same value as
the function at that point.

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2.2 Limit Properties :
First we will assume that lim f (x) and lim g (x) exist and that c is any constant. Then,
x!a x!a

1. lim c = c
x!a

2. lim x = a
x!a

3. lim [cf (x)] = c lim f (x)

x!a x!a

4. lim [f (x) g (x)] = lim f (x) lim g (x)

x!a x!a x!a

5. lim [f (x) g (x)] = lim f (x) lim g (x)

x!a x!a x!a

f (x) lim f (x)

6. lim = x!a , provided lim g (x) 6= 0
x!a g (x) lim g (x) x!a
x!a
h in
n
7. lim [f (x)] = lim f (x) , where n is any real number.
x!a x!a

Example 2.2.1 Compute the following limit

lim x2 2x + 3 :
x!2

Solution :

lim x2 2x + 3 = lim x2 lim 2x + lim 3

x!2 x!2 x!2 x!2
h i2
= lim x 2 lim x + lim 3
x!2 x!2 x!2
= 22 2:2 + 3
= 3

Note that when we plug x = 2 into the function we have.f (2) = 3.

Fact : If p(x) is a polynomial then,

lim p (x) = p (a) :
x!a

Example 2.2.2 Compute the following limit

x3 x+2
lim :
x!1 x+1

Solution :

x3 x+2 lim x3 x+2

x!1
lim =
x!1 x+1 lim (x + 1)
x!1
13 1+2
=
1+1
= 1

Example 2.2.3 Evaluate the following limit p

lim x:
x!2

Solution :
p 1
lim x = lim (x) 2
x!2 x!2
h i 12
= lim x
x!2
1
= (2) 2
p
= 2

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 It is possible that both f (x) and g (x) approach 0 as x approaches a. In that case, we say the limit

f (x)
lim
x!a g (x)

is the form 00 . A limit of the form 0

0 may exist, or it may not. However it must be simpli…ed before it can be analyzed.

Example 2.2.4 Compute the following limit

x2 4
lim :
x! 2 x2 + x 2
0 0
Solution : At x = 2 the limit is the form 0 and it must be reduced to a non 0 form.

x2 4 (x + 2) (x 2)
lim = lim
x! 2 x2 +x 2 (x 1) (x + 2)
x! 2
x 2
= lim
x! 2 x 1
4
=
3
Theorem 2.2.5 (Squeeze (Sandwich)Theorem) Suppose that for all x on [a; c] (except possibly at x = b) we have,

f (x) h (x) g (x) :

Also suppose that,

lim f (x) = lim g (x) = L
x!b x!b

for some a b c. Then

lim h (x) = L
x!b

Example 2.2.6 Evaluate the following limit.

1
lim x2 cos
x!0 x

Solution : Previous examples cannot help us to …nd this limit. We know the following fact.

1 cos (x) 1

We can also have

1
1 cos 1
x
for x 6= 0. Since we are taking a limit, we can ignore x = 0. By multiply everything by x2 , we get following.

1
x2 x2 cos x2
x

Since we have also

lim x2 = lim x2 = 0
x!0 x!0

by the Squeeze theorem we must also have

1
lim x2 cos = 0:
x!0 x

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