© 2022

Common Math Errors Introduction

1 Introduction

Originally the intended audience for this was my Calculus I students as pretty much every error
listed here shows up in that class with alarming frequency. After writing it however I realized that,
with the exception of a few examples, the first four sections should be accessible to anyone taking
a math class and many of the errors listed in the first four sections also show up in math classes
at pretty much every level. So, if you haven’t had calculus yet (or never will) you should ignore the
last section and the occasional calculus examples in the first four sections.
I got the idea for doing this when I ran across Eric Schechter’s list of common errors located
at http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/ schectex/commerrs/. There is a fair amount of overlap in the
errors discussed on both of our pages. Sometimes the discussion is similar and at other times
it’s different. The main difference between our two pages is I stick to the level of Calculus and
lower while he also discusses errors in proof techniques and some more advanced topics as well.
I would encourage everyone interested in common math errors also take a look at his page.

2 General Errors

I do not want to leave people with the feeling that I’m trying to imply that math is easy and that
everyone should just “get it”! For many people math is a very difficult subject and they will strug-
gle with it. So please do not leave with the impression that I’m trying to imply that math is easy
for everyone. The intent of this section is to address certain attitudes and preconceptions many
students have that can make a math class very difficult to successfully complete.

Putting off math requirements

I don’t know how many students have come up to me and said something along the lines of :
“I’ve been putting this off for a while now because math is so hard for me and now I’ve got to have
it in order to graduate this semester.”
This has got to be one of the strangest attitudes that I’ve ever run across. If math is hard for you,
putting off your math requirements is one of the worst things that you can do! You should take your
math requirements as soon as you can. There are several reasons for this.
The first reason can be stated in the following way : MATH IS CUMULATIVE. In other words,
most math classes build on knowledge you’ve gotten in previous math classes, including your high
school math classes. So, the only real effect of putting off your math requirement is that you forget
the knowledge that you once had. It will be assumed that you’ve still got this knowledge when you
finally do take your math requirement!
If you put off your math requirement you will be faced with the unpleasant situation of having to
learn new material AND relearn all the forgotten material at the same time. In most cases, this
means that you will struggle in the class far more than if you had just taken it right away!
The second reason has nothing to do with knowledge (or the loss of knowledge), but instead has

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everything to do with reality. If math is hard for you and you struggle to pass a math course, then
you really should take the course at a time that allows for the unfortunate possibility that you don’t
pass. In other words, to put it bluntly, if you wait until your last semester to take your required math
course and fail you won’t be graduating! Take it right away so if you do unfortunately fail the course
you can retake it the next semester.
This leads to the third reason. Too many students wait until the last semester to take their math
class in the hopes that their instructor will take pity on them and not fail them because they’re
graduating. To be honest the only thing that I, and many other instructors, feel in these cases is
irritation at being put into the position at having to be the bad guy and failing a graduating senior.
Not a situation where you can expect much in the way of sympathy!

Doing the bare minimum

I see far too many students trying to do the bare minimum required to pass the class, or at least
what they feel is the bare minimum required. The problem with this is they often underestimate the
amount of work required early in the class, get behind, and then spend the rest of the semester
playing catch up and having to do far more than just the bare minimum.
You should always try to get the best grade possible! You might be surprised and do better than
you expected. At the very least you will lessen the chances of underestimating the amount of work
required and getting behind.
Remember that math is NOT a spectator sport! You must be actively involved in the learning
process if you want to do well in the class.

A good/bad first exam score doesn’t translate into a course grade

Another heading here could be : “Don’t get cocky and don’t despair”. If you get a good score
on the first exam do not decide that means that you don’t need to work hard for the rest of the
semester. All the good score means is that you’re doing the proper amount of for studying for the
class! Almost every semester I have a student get an A on the first exam and end up with a C
(or less) for the class because he/she got cocky and decided to not study as much and promptly
started getting behind and doing poorly on exams.
Likewise, if you get a bad score on the first exam do not despair! All the bad score means is that
you need to do a little more work for the next exam. Work more problems, join a study group, or
get a tutor to help you. Just as I have someone go downhill almost every semester I also have at
least one student who fails the first exam and yet passes the class, often with a B and occasionally
an A!
Your score on the first exam simply doesn’t translate into a course grade. There is a whole semester
in front of you and lots of opportunities to improve your grade so don’t despair if you didn’t do as
well as you wanted to on the first exam.

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Expecting to instantly understand a concept/topic/section

Assuming that if it’s “easy” in class it will be “easy” on the exam
Don’t know how to study mathematics
The first two are really problems that fall under the last topic but I run across them often enough
that I thought I’d go ahead and put them down as well. The reality is that most people simply don’t
know how to study mathematics. This is not because people are not capable of studying math, but
because they’ve never really learned how to study math.
Mathematics is not like most subjects and accordingly you must also study math differently. This
is an unfortunate reality and many students try to study for a math class in the same way that they
would study for a history class, for example. This will inevitably lead to problems. In a history class
you can, in many cases, simply attend class memorize a few names and/or dates and pass the
class. In a math class things are different. Simply memorizing will not always get you through the
class, you also need to understand HOW to use the formula that you’ve memorized.
This is such an important topic and there is so much to be said I’ve devoted a whole document to
just this topic. My How To Study Mathematics can be accessed at,
https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/StudyMath/HowToStudyMath.aspx

3 Algebra Errors

The topics covered here are errors that students often make in doing algebra, and not just errors
typically made in an algebra class. I’ve seen every one of these mistakes made by students in
all level of classes, from algebra classes up to senior level math classes! In fact, a few of the
examples in this section will actually come from calculus.
If you have not had calculus you can ignore these examples. In every case where I’ve given
examples I’ve tried to include examples from an algebra class as well as the occasion example
from upper level courses like Calculus.
I’m convinced that many of the mistakes given here are caused by people getting lazy or getting
in a hurry and not paying attention to what they’re doing. By slowing down, paying attention to
what you’re doing and paying attention to proper notation you can avoid the vast majority of these
mistakes!

Division by Zero
Everyone knows that 02 = 0 the problem is that far too many people also say that 20 = 0 or 20 = 2!
Remember that division by zero is undefined! You simply cannot divide by zero so don’t do it!
Here is a very good example of the kinds of havoc that can arise when you divide by zero. See if
you can find the mistake that I made in the work below.

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Step 1. a=b We’ll start assuming this to be true.

Step 2. ab = a2 Multiply both sides by a.

Step 3. ab − b2 = a2 − b2 Subtract b2 from both sides.

Step 4. b (a − b) = (a + b) (a − b) Factor both sides.

Step 5. b=a+b Divide both sides by a − b.

Step 6. b = 2b Recall we started off assuming a = b.

Step 7. 1=2 Divide both sides by b.

So, we’ve managed to prove that 1 = 2! Now, we know that’s not true so clearly we made a mistake
somewhere. Can you see where the mistake was made?
The mistake was in step 5. Recall that we started out with the assumption a = b. However, if this
is true then we have a − b = 0! So, in step 5 we are really dividing by zero!
That simple mistake led us to something that we knew wasn’t true, however, in most cases your
answer will not obviously be wrong. It will not always be clear that you are dividing by zero, as was
the case in this example. You need to be on the lookout for this kind of thing.
Remember that you CAN’T divide by zero!

Bad/lost/Assumed Parenthesis
This is probably error that I find to be the most frustrating. There are a couple of errors that people
commonly make here.
The first error is that people get lazy and decide that parenthesis aren’t needed at certain steps
or that they can remember that the parenthesis are supposed to be there. Of course, the problem
here is that they often tend to forget about them in the very next step!
The other error is that students sometimes don’t understand just how important parentheses really
are. This is often seen in errors made in exponentiation as my first couple of examples show.

Example 1
Square 4x.

Correct Incorrect

(4x)2 = (4)2 (x)2 = 16x2 4x2

Note the very important difference between these two! When dealing with exponents re-
member that only the quantity immediately to the left of the exponent gets the exponent.

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So, in the incorrect case, the x is the quantity immediately to the left of the exponent so we
are squaring only the x while the 4 isn’t squared. In the correct case the parenthesis is im-
mediately to the left of the exponent so this signifies that everything inside the parenthesis
should be squared!
Parenthesis are required in this case to make sure we square the whole thing, not just the
x, so don’t forget them!

Example 2
Square -3.

Correct Incorrect

(−3)2 = (−3) (−3) = 9 −32 = − (3) (3) = −9

This one is similar to the previous one, but has a subtlety that causes problems on occa-
sion. Remember that only the quantity to the left of the exponent gets the exponent. So,
in the incorrect case ONLY the 3 is to the left of the exponent and so ONLY the 3 gets
squared!
Many people know that technically they are supposed to square -3, but they get lazy and
don’t write the parenthesis down on the premise that they will remember them when the
time comes to actually evaluate it. However, it’s amazing how many of these folks promptly
forget about the parenthesis and write down -9 anyway!

Example 3
Subtract 4x − 5 from x2 + 3x − 5.

Correct Incorrect
x + 3x − 5 − (4x − 5) = x2 + 3x − 5 − 4x + 5
2
x2 + 3x − 5 − 4x − 5 = x2 − x − 10
= x2 − x

Be careful and note the difference between the two! In the first case I put parenthesis around
then 4x − 5 and in the second I didn’t. Since we are subtracting a polynomial we need to
make sure we subtract the WHOLE polynomial! The only way to make sure we do that
correctly is to put parenthesis around it.
Again, this is one of those errors that people do know that technically the parenthesis should
be there, but they don’t put them in and promptly forget that they were there and do the
subtraction incorrectly.

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Example 4
√
Convert 7x to fractional exponents.

Correct Incorrect
√ 1 √ 1
7x = (7x) 2 7x = 7x 2

This comes back to same mistake in the first two. If only the quantity to the left of the
1 √
exponent gets the exponent. So, the incorrect case is really 7x 2 = 7 x and this is clearly
NOT the original root.

Example 5
R
Evaluate −3 6x − 2 dx.

Z Correct Z Incorrect
6x − 2 dx = −3 3x2 − 2x + c 6x − 2 dx = −3 · 3x2 − 2x + c


−3 −3

= −9x2 + 6x + c = −9x2 − 2x + c

Note the use of the parenthesis. The problem states that it is -3 times the WHOLE integral
not just the first term of the integral (as is done in the incorrect example).

Improper Distribution
Be careful when using the distribution property! There two main errors that I run across on a regular
basis.

Example 6
Multiply 4 2x2 − 10 .

Correct Incorrect

4 2x2 − 10 = 8x2 − 40 4 2x2 − 10 = 8x2 − 10

Make sure that you distribute the 4 all the way through the parenthesis! Too often people
just multiply the first term by the 4 and ignore the second term. This is especially true when
the second term is just a number. For some reason, if the second term contains variables
students will remember to do the distribution correctly more often than not.

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Example 7
Multiply 3(2x − 5)2 .

Correct Incorrect
2
3(2x − 5) = 3 4x2 − 20x + 25 3 (2x − 5) = (6x − 15)2
2

= 12x2 − 60x + 75 = 36x2 − 180x + 225

Remember that exponentiation must be performed BEFORE you distribute any coefficients
through the parenthesis!

Additive Assumptions
I didn’t know what else to call this, but it’s an error that many students make. Here’s the assumption.
Since 2 (x + y) = 2x + 2y then everything works like this. However, here is a whole list in which
this doesn’t work.
(x + y)2 6= x2 + y 2
√ √ √
x + y 6= x + y
1 1 1
6= +
x+y x y
cos (x + y) 6= cos(x) + cos(y)

It’s not hard to convince yourself that any of these aren’t true. Just pick a couple of numbers and
plug them in! For instance,

(1 + 3)2 6= 12 + 32
(4)2 6= 1 + 9
16 6= 10

You will find the occasional set of numbers for which one of these rules will work, but they don’t
work for almost any randomly chosen pair of numbers.
Note that there are far more examples where this additive assumption doesn’t work than what I’ve
listed here. I simply wrote down the ones that I see most often. Also, a couple of those that I listed
could be made more general. For instance,

(x + y)n 6= xn + y n for any integer n ≥ 2

√
n
√
n
√
x + y 6= x+ n
y for any integer n ≥ 2

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Common Math Errors Algebra Errors

Canceling Errors
These errors fall into two categories. Simplifying rational expressions and solving equations. Let’s
look at simplifying rational expressions first.

Example 8
3x3 − x
Simplify (done correctly).
x

x 3x2 − 1


3x3 − x
= = 3x2 − 1
x x

Notice that in order to cancel the x out of the denominator I first factored an x out of the
numerator. You can only cancel something if it is multiplied by the WHOLE numerator and
denominator, or if IS the whole numerator or denominator (as in the case of the denominator
in our example).
Contrast this with the next example which contains a very common error that students
make.

Example 9
3x3 − x
Simplify (done incorrectly).
x
Far too many students try to simplify this as,

3x2 − x OR 3x3 − 1

In other words, they cancel the x in the denominator against only one of the x’s in the
numerator (i.e. cancel the x only from the first term or only from the second term). THIS
CAN’T BE DONE!!!!! In order to do this canceling you MUST have an x in both terms.
To convince yourself that this kind of canceling isn’t true consider the following number ex-
ample.

Example 10
8−3
Simplify .
2
This can easily be done just be doing the arithmetic as follows
8−3 5
= = 2.5
2 2

However, let’s do an incorrect cancel similar to the previous example. We’ll first cancel the

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two in the denominator into the eight in the numerator. This is NOT CORRECT, but it mirrors
the canceling that was incorrectly done in the previous example. This gives,
8−3
=4−3=1
2

Clearly these two aren’t the same! So you need to be careful with canceling!

Now, let’s take a quick look at canceling errors involved in solving equations.

Example 11
Solve 2x2 = x (done incorrectly).
Too many students get used to just canceling (i.e. simplifying) things to make their life easier.
So, the biggest mistake in solving this kind of equation is to cancel an x from both sides to
get,
1
2x = 1 ⇒ x=
2

While, x = 12 is a solution, there is another solution that we’ve missed. Can you see what it
is? Take a look at the next example to see what it is.

Example 12
Solve 2x2 = x (done correctly).
Here’s the correct way to solve this equation. First get everything on one side then fac-
tor!

2x2 − x = 0
x (2x − 1) = 0

From this we can see that either,

x=0 OR 2x − 1 = 0

In the second case we get the x = 12 we got in the first attempt, but from the first case we
also get x = 0 that we didn’t get in the first attempt. Clearly x = 0 will work in the equation
and so is a solution!

We missed the x = 0 in the first attempt because we tried to make our life easier by “simplifying”
the equation before solving. While some simplification is a good and necessary thing, you should

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NEVER divide out a term as we did in the first attempt when solving. If you do this, you WILL lose
solutions.

Proper Use of Square Root

There seems to be a very large misconception about the use of square roots out there. Students
seem to be under the misconception that
√
16 = ± 4

This is not correct however. Square roots are ALWAYS positive or zero! So the correct value
is √
16 = 4

This is the ONLY value of the square root! If we want the -4 then we do the following
√ √ 
− 16 = − 16 = − (4) = −4

Notice that I used parenthesis only to make the point on just how the minus sign was appearing!
In general, the middle two steps are omitted. So, if we want the negative value we have to actually
put in the minus sign!
I suppose that this misconception arises because they are also asked to solve things like x2 =
16. Clearly the answer to this is x = ± 4 and often they will solve by “taking the square root”
of both sides. There is a missing step however. Here is the proper solution technique for this
problem.

x2 = 16
√
x = ± 16
x = ±4

Note that the ± shows up in the second step before we actually find the value of the square root!
It doesn’t show up as part of taking the square root.
I feel that I need to point out that many instructors (including myself on occasion) don’t help matters
in that they will often omit the second step and by doing so seem to imply that the ± is showing up
because of the square root.
So, remember that square roots ALWAYS return a positive answer or zero. If you want a negative
you’ll need to put it in a minus sign BEFORE you take the square root.

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Common Math Errors Algebra Errors

Ambiguous Fractions
This is more a notational issue than an algebra issue. I decided to put it here because too many
students come out of algebra classes without understanding this point. There are really three kinds
of “bad” notation that people often use with fractions that can lead to errors in work.
The first is using a “/” to denote a fraction, for instance 2/3. In this case there really isn’t a problem
with using a “/”, but what about 2/3x? This can be either of the two following fractions.
2 2
x OR
3 3x
It is not clear from 2/3x which of these two it should be! You, as the student, may know which one
of the two that you intended it to be, but a grader won’t. Also, while you may know which of the two
you intended it to be when you wrote it down, will you still know which of the two it is when you go
back to look at the problem when you study?
You should only use a “/” for fractions when it will be clear and obvious to everyone, not just you,
how the fraction should be interpreted.
The next notational problem I see fairly regularly is people writing,
2
3 x

It is not clear from this if the x belongs in the denominator or the fraction or not. Students often write
fractions like this and usually they mean that the x shouldn’t be in the denominator. The problem
is on a quick glance it often looks like it should be in the denominator and the student just didn’t
draw the fraction bar over far enough.
2
If you intend for the x to be in the denominator then write it as such that way, 3x , i.e. make sure
that you draw the fraction bar over the WHOLE denominator. If you don’t intend for it to be in the
denominator then don’t leave any doubt! Write it as 23 x.
The final notational problem that I see comes back to using a “/” to denote a fraction, but is really
a parenthesis problem. This involves fractions like
a+b
c+d
Often students who use “/” to denote fractions will write this is fraction as
a + b/c + d

These students know that they are writing down the original fraction. However, almost anyone else
will see the following
b
a+ +d
c
This is definitely NOT the original fraction. So, if you MUST use “/” to denote fractions use paren-
thesis to make it clear what is the numerator and what is the denominator. So, you should write it
as
(a + b) / (c + d)

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Common Math Errors Trig Errors

4 Trig Errors

This is a fairly short section, but contains some errors that I see my calculus students continually
making so I thought I’d include them here as a separate section.

Degrees vs. Radians

Most trig classes that I’ve seen taught tend to concentrate on doing things in degrees. I suppose
that this is because it’s easier for the students to visualize, but the reality is that almost all of calculus
is done in radians and students too often come out of a trig class ill prepared to deal with all the
radians in a calculus class.
You simply must get used to doing everything in radians in a calculus class. If you are asked to
evaluate cos (x) at x = 10 we are asking you to use 10 radians not 10 degrees! The answers are
very, very different! Consider the following,

cos (10) = −0.839071529076 in radians

cos (10) = 0.984807753012 in degrees

You’ll notice that they aren’t even the same sign!

So, be careful and make sure that you always use radians when dealing with trig functions in a trig
class. Make sure your calculator is set to calculations in radians.

cos (x) is NOT multiplication

I see students attempting both of the following on a continual basis

cos (x + y) 6= cos (x) + cos (y)

cos (3x) 6= 3 cos (x)

These just simply aren’t true. The only reason that I can think of for these mistakes is that students
must be thinking of cos (x) as a multiplication of something called cos and x. This couldn’t be
farther from the truth! Cosine is a function and the cos is used to denote that we are dealing with
the cosine function!
If you’re not sure you believe that those aren’t true just pick a couple of values for x and y and plug
into the first example.

cos (π + 2π) 6= cos (π) + cos (2π)

cos (3π) 6= −1 + 1
−1 6= 0

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So, it’s clear that the first isn’t true and we could do a similar test for the second example.

cos (3π) 6= 3 cos (π)

−1 6= 3 (−1)
−1 6= −3

I suppose that the problem is that occasionally there are values for these that are true. For instance,
you could use x = π2 in the second example and both sides would be zero so it would work for that
value of x. In general, however, for the vast majority of values out there in the world these simply
aren’t true!
On a more general note. I picked on cosine for this example, but I could have used any of the six
trig functions, so be careful!

Powers of trig functions

Remember that if n is a positive integer then

sinn (x) = (sin(x))n

The same holds for all the other trig functions as well of course. This is just a notational idiosyncrasy
that you’ve got to get used to. Also remember to keep the following straight.

tan2 (x) vs. tan x2

In the first case we taking the tangent then squaring result and in the second we are squaring the
x then taking the tangent.
The tan x2 is actually not the best notation for this type of problem, but I see people (both stu-
dents and instructors) using it all the time. We really should probably use tan x2 to make things

clear.

Inverse trig notation

The notation for inverse trig functions is not the best. You need to remember, that despite what I
just got done talking about above,
1
cos−1 (x) 6=
cos(x)

This is why I said that n was a positive integer in the previous discussion. I wanted to avoid this
notational problem. The −1 in cos−1 x is NOT an exponent, it is there to denote the fact that we
are dealing with an inverse trig function.
There is another notation for inverse trig functions that avoids this problem, but it is not always
used.
cos−1 (x) = arccos(x)

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5 Common Errors

This is a set of errors that really doesn’t fit into any of the other topics so I included all them
here.

Read the instructions!!!!!!

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes that students make. You’ve got to read the instructions
and the problem statement carefully. Make sure you understand what you are being asked to do
BEFORE you start working the problem
Far too often students run with the assumption : “It’s in section X so they must want me to
.” In many cases you simply can’t assume that. Do not just skim the instruction
or read the first few words and assume you know the rest.
Instructions will often contain information pertaining to the steps that your instructor wants to see
and the form the final answer must be in. Also, many math problems can proceed in several ways
depending on one or two words in the problem statement. If you miss those one or two words, you
may end up going down the wrong path and getting the problem completely wrong.
Not reading the instructions is probably the biggest source of point loss for my students.

Pay attention to restrictions on formulas

This is an error that is often compounded by instructors (me included on occasion, I must admit)
that don’t give or make a big deal about restrictions on formulas. In some cases the instructors
forget the restrictions, in others they seem to have the idea that the restrictions are so obvious that
they don’t need to give them, and in other cases the instructors just don’t want to be bothered with
explaining the restrictions so they don’t give them.
For instance, in an algebra class you should have run across the following formula.
√ √ √
ab = a b

The problem is there is a restriction on this formula and many instructors don’t bother with it and so
students aren’t always aware of it. Even if instructors do give the restriction on this formula many
students forget it as they are rarely faced with a case where the formula doesn’t work.
Take a look at the following example to see what happens when the restriction is violated (I’ll give
the restriction at the end of example.)

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√ √
Step 1. 1= 1 This is certainly a true statement.
p p
Step 2. (1) (1) = (−1) (−1) Because 1 = (1) (1) and 1 = (−1) (−1).
√ √ √ √
Step 3. 1 1 = −1 −1 Use the above property on both roots.
√
Step 4. (1) (1) = (i) (i) i = −1

Step 5. 1 = i2 Just a little simplification.

Step 6. 1 = −1 i2 = −1

Clearly we’ve got a problem here as we are well aware that 1 6= −1! The problem arose in step 3.
The property that I used has the restriction that a and b can’t both be negative. It is okay if one or
the other is negative, but they can’t BOTH be negative!
Ignoring this kind of restriction can cause some real problems as the above example shows.
There is also an example from calculus of this kind of problem. If you haven’t had calculus you can
skip this one. One of the more basic formulas that you’ll get is

d  n
x = nxn−1
dx

This is where most instructors leave it, despite the fact that there is a fairly important restriction
that needs to be given as well. I suspect most instructors are so used to using the formula that
they just implicitly feel that everyone knows the restriction and so don’t have to give it. I know that
I’ve done this myself here!
In order to use this formula n MUST be a fixed constant! In other words, you can’t use the formula
to find the derivative of xx since the exponent is not a fixed constant. If you tried to use the rule to
find the derivative of xx you would arrive at

x · xx−1 = xx

and the correct derivative is,

d  x
x = xx (1 + ln(x))
dx

So, you can see that what we got by incorrectly using the formula is not even close to the correct
answer.

Changing your answer to match the known answer

Since I started writing my own homework problems I don’t run into this as often as I used to, but it
annoyed me so much that I thought I’d go ahead and include it.
In the past, I’d occasionally assign problems from the text with answers given in the back. Early in
the semester I would get homework sets that had incorrect work but the correct answer just blindly

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copied out of the back. Rather than go back and find their mistake the students would just copy
the correct answer down in the hope that I’d miss it while grading. While on occasion I’m sure that
I did miss it, when I did catch it, it cost the students far more points than the original mistake would
have cost them.
So, if you do happen to know what the answer is ahead of time and your answer doesn’t match it
GO BACK AND FIND YOUR MISTAKE!!!!! Do not just write the correct answer down and hope.
If you can’t find your mistake then write down the answer you get, not the known and (hopefully)
correct answer.
I can’t speak for other instructors, but if I see the correct answer that isn’t supported by your work
you will lose far more points than the original mistake would have cost you had you just written
down the incorrect answer.

Don’t assume you’ll do the work correctly and just write the answer down
This error is similar to the previous one in that it assumes that you have the known answer ahead
of time.
Occasionally there are problems for which you can get the answer to intermediate step by looking
at the known answer. In these cases do not just assume that your initial work is correct and write
down the intermediate answer from the known answer without actually doing the work to get the
answers to those intermediate steps. Do the work and check your answers against the known
answer to make sure you didn’t make a mistake. If your work doesn’t match the known answer
then you know you made a mistake. Go back and find it.
There are certain problems in a differential equations class in which if you know the answer ahead
of time you can get the roots of a quadratic equation that you must solve as well as the solution to
a system of equations that you must also solve. I won’t bore you with the details of these types of
problems, but I once had a student who was notorious for this kind of error.
There was one problem in particular in which he had written down the quadratic equation and had
made a very simple sign mistake, but he assumed that he would be able to solve the quadratic
equation without any problems so just wrote down the roots of the equation that he got by looking at
the known answer. He then proceeded with the problem, made a couple more very simple and easy
to catch mistakes and arrived at the system of equations that he needed to solve. Again, because
of his mistakes it was the incorrect system, but he simply assumed he would solve it correctly if he
had done the work and wrote down the answer he got by looking at the solution.
This student received almost no points on this problem because he decided that in a differential
equations class solving a quadratic equation or a simple system of equations was beneath him
and that he would do it correctly every time if he were to do the work. Therefore, he would skip
the work and write down what he knew the answers to these intermediate steps to be by looking
at the known answer. If he had simply done the work he would have realized he made a mistake
and could have found the mistakes as they were typically easy to catch mistakes.
So, the moral of the story is DO THE WORK. Don’t just assume that if you were to do the work you

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would get the correct answer. Do the work and if it’s the same as the known answer then you did
everything correctly, if not you made a mistake so go back and find it.

Does your answer make sense?

When you’re done working problems go back and make sure that your answer makes sense.
Often the problems are such that certain answers just won’t make sense, so once you’ve gotten
an answer ask yourself if it makes sense. If it doesn’t make sense then you’ve probably made a
mistake so go back and try to find it.
Here are a couple of examples that I’ve actually gotten from students over the years.
In an algebra class we would occasionally work interest problems where we would invest a certain
amount of money in an account that earned interest at a specific rate for a specific number of
year/months/days depending on the problem. First, if you are earning interest then the amount of
money should grow, so if you end up with less than you started you’ve made a mistake. Likewise,
if you only invest $2000 for a couple of years at a small interest rate you shouldn’t have a couple
of billion dollars in the account after two years!
Back in my graduate student days I was teaching a trig class and we were going to try and determine
the height of a very well known building on campus given the length of the shadow and the angle
of the sun in the sky. I doubt that anyone in the class knew the actual height of the building, but
they had to know that it wasn’t over two miles tall! I actually got an answer that was over two miles.
It clearly wasn’t a correct answer, but instead of going back to find the mistake (a very simple
mistake was made) the student circled the obviously incorrect answer and moved on to the next
problem.
Often the mistake that gives an obviously incorrect answer is an easy one to find. So, check your
answer and make sure that they make sense!

Check your work

I can not stress how important this one is! CHECK YOUR WORK! You will often catch simple
mistakes by going back over your work. The best way to do this, although it’s time consuming, is
to put your work away then come back and rework all the problems and check your new answers
to those previously gotten. This is time consuming and so can’t always be done, but it is the best
way to check your work.
If you don’t have that kind of time available to you, then at least read through your work. You won’t
catch all the mistakes this way, but you might catch some of the more glaring mistakes.
Depending on your instructors beliefs about working groups you might want to check your answer
against other students. Some instructors frown on this and want you to do all your work individually,
but if your instructor doesn’t mind this, it’s a nice way to catch mistakes.

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Guilt by association
The title here doesn’t do a good job of describing the kinds of errors here, but once you see the
kind of errors that I’m talking about you will understand it.
Too often students make the following logic errors. Since the following formula is true
√ √ √
ab = a b where a and b can’t both be negative
√
there must be a similar formula for a + b . In other words, if the formula works for one algebraic
operation (i.e. addition, subtraction, division, and/or multiplication) it must work for all. The problem
is that this usually isn’t true! In this case
√ √ √
a + b 6= a + b

Likewise, from calculus students make the mistake that because

(f + g)0 = f 0 + g 0

the same must be true for a product of functions. Again, however, it doesn’t work that way!

(f g)0 6= f 0 g 0

So, don’t try to extend formulas that work for certain algebraic operations to all algebraic operations.
If you were given a formula for certain algebraic operation, but not others there was a reason for
that. In all likelihood it only works for those operations in which you were given the formula!

Rounding Errors
For some reason students seem to develop the attitude that everything must be rounded as much
as possible. This has gone so far that I’ve actually had students who refused to work with deci-
mals! Every answer was rounded to the nearest integer, regardless of how wrong that made the
answer.
There are simply some problems were rounding too much can get you in trouble and seriously
change the answer. The best example of this is interest problems. Here’s a quick example.
Recall (provided you’ve seen this formula) that if you invest P dollars at an interest rate of r that is
compounded m times per year, then after t years you will have A dollars where,
 r n t
A=P 1+
n

So, let’s assume that we invest $10,000 at an interest rate of 6.5% compounded monthly for 15
years. So, here’s what we’ve got
P = 10, 000
6.5
r = 100 = 0.065
n = 12
t = 15

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Remember that the interest rate is always divided by 100! So, here’s what we will have after 15
years.

0.065 (12)(15)
 
A = 10000 1 +
12
= 10, 000(1.005416667)180
= 10, 000 (2.644200977)
= 26, 442.00977
= 26, 442.01

So, after 15 years we will have $26,442.01. You will notice that I didn’t round until the very last
step and that was only because we were working with money which usually only has two decimal
places. That is required in these problems. Here are some examples of rounding to show you
how much difference rounding too much can make. At each step I’ll round each answer to the give
number of decimal places.
First, I’ll do the extreme case of no decimal places at all, i.e. only integers. This is an extreme
case, but I’ve run across it occasionally.

0.065 (12)(15)
 
A = 10, 000 1 +
12
= 10, 000(1)180 1.005416667 = 1 when rounded.
= 10, 000 (1)
= 10, 000.00

It’s extreme but it makes the point.

Now, I’ll round to three decimal places.

0.065 (12)(15)
 
A = 10, 000 1 +
12
= 10, 000(1.005)180 1.005416667 = 1.005 when rounded.
= 10, 000 (2.454) 2.454093562 = 2.454 when rounded.
= 24, 540.00

Now, round to five decimal places.

0.065 (12)(15)
 
A = 10, 000 1 +
12
= 10, 000(1.00542)180 1.005416667 = 1.00542 when rounded.
= 10, 000 (2.64578) 2.645779261 = 2.64578 when rounded.
= 26, 457.80

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Finally, round to seven decimal places.

0.065 (12)(15)
 
A = 10, 000 1 +
12
= 10, 000(1.0054167)180 1.005416667 = 1.0054167 when rounded.
= 10, 000 (2.6442166) 2.644216599 = 2.6442166 when rounded.
= 26, 442.17

I skipped a couple of possibilities in the computations. Here is a table of all possibilities from 0
decimal places to 8.

Decimal places Amount after 15

Error in Answer
of rounding years
0 10, 000.00 16, 442.01 (Under)
1 10, 000.00 16, 442.01 (Under)
2 60, 000.00 33, 557.99 (Over)
3 24, 540.00 1, 902.01 (Under)
4 26, 363.00 79.01 (Under)
5 26, 457.80 15.79 (Over)
6 26, 443.59 1.58 (Over)
7 26, 442.17 0.16 (Over)
8 26, 442.02 0.01 (Over)

So, notice that it takes at least 4 digits of rounding to start getting “close” to the actual answer.
Note as well that in the world of business the answers we got with 4, 5, 6 and 7 decimal places
of rounding would probably also be unacceptable. In a few cases (such as banks) where every
penny counts even the last answer would also be unacceptable!
So, the point here is that you must be careful with rounding. There are some situations where too
much rounding can drastically change the answer!

Bad notation
These are not really errors, but bad notation that always sets me on edge when I see it. Some
instructors, including me after a while, will take off points for these things. This is just notational stuff
that you should get out of the habit of writing if you do it. You should reach a certain mathematical
“maturity” after awhile and not use this kind of notation.
First, I see the following all too often,

2 + x − 6x = 2 + −5x

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The + − 5 just makes no sense! It combines into a negative SO WRITE IT LIKE THAT! Here’s the
correct way,
2 + x − 6x = 2 − 5x

This is the correct way to do it! I expect my students to do this as well.

Next, one (the number) times something is just the something, there is no reason to continue to
write the one. For instance,
2 + 7x − 6x = 2 + x

Do not write this as 2 + 1x ! The coefficient of one is not needed here since 1x = x! Do not write
the coefficient of 1!
This same thing holds for an exponent of one anything to the first power is the anything so there
is usually no reason to write the one down!

x1 = x

In my classes, I will attempt to stop this behavior with comments initially, but if that isn’t enough to
stop it, I will start taking points off.

6 Calculus Errors

Many of the errors listed here are not really calculus errors, but errors that commonly occur in a
calculus class and notational errors that are calculus related. If you haven’t had a calculus class
then I would suggest that you not bother with this section as it probably won’t make a lot of sense
to you.
If you are just starting a calculus class then I would also suggest that you be very careful with
reading this. At some level this part is intended to be read by a student taking a calculus course
as he/she is taking the course. In other words, after you’ve covered limits come back and look
at the issues involving limits, then do the same after you’ve covered derivatives and then with
integrals. Do not read this prior to the class and try to figure out how calculus works based on
the few examples that I’ve given here! This will only cause you a great amount of grief down the
road.

Derivatives and Integrals of Products/Quotients

Recall that while
Z Z Z
(f ± g)0 (x) = f 0 (x) ± g 0 (x) f (x) ± g (x) dx = f (x) dx ± g (x) dx

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are true, the same thing can’t be done for products and quotients. In other words,
Z Z  Z 
0 0 0
(f g) (x) 6= f (x) g (x) f (x) g (x) dx 6= f (x) dx g (x) dx
 0
f 0 (x)
Z R
f f (x) f (x) dx
(x) 6= 0 dx 6= R
g g (x) g (x) g (x) dx

If you need convincing of this consider the example of f (x) = x4 and g (x) = x10 .

(f g)0 (x) 6= f 0 (x) g 0 (x)

0
0
0
x4 x10 6= x4 x10

0
x14 6= 4x3 10x9

14x13 6= 40x12

I only did the case of the derivative of a product, but clearly the two aren’t equal! I’ll leave it to you
to check the remaining three cases if you’d like to.
Remember that in the case of derivatives we’ve got the product and quotient rule. In the case of
integrals there are no such rules and when faced with an integral of a product or quotient they will
have to be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Z
Proper use of the formula for xn dx
Many students forget that there is a restriction on this integration formula, so for the record here is
the formula along with the restriction.

xn+1
Z
xn dx = + c, provided n 6= −1
n+1

That restriction is incredibly important because if we allowed n = −1 we would get division by zero
in the formula! Here is what I see far too many students do when faced with this integral.

x0
Z
x−1 dx = + c = x0 + c = 1 + c
0
THIS ISN’T TRUE!!!!!! There are all sorts of problems with this. First there’s the improper use of
the formula, then there is the division by zero problem! This should NEVER be done this way.
Recall that the correct integral of x−1 is,
Z Z
−1 1
x dx = dx = ln |x| + c
x

This leads us to the next error.

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Z
1
Dropping the absolute value when integrating dx
x
Recall that in the formula Z
1
dx = ln |x| + c
x
the absolute value bars on the argument are required! It is certainly true that on occasion they
can be dropped after the integration is done, but they are required in most cases. For instance,
contrast the two integrals,
Z
2x 2 2


dx = ln |x + 10| + C = ln x + 10 +c
x2 + 10
Z
2x
2
dx = ln |x2 − 10| + c
x − 10

In the first case the x2 is positive and adding 10 on will not change that fact so since x2 + 10 > 0
we can drop the absolute value bars. In the second case however, since we don’t know what
the value of x is, there is no way to know the sign of x2 − 10 and so the absolute value bars are
required.

Z
1
Improper use of the formula dx = ln |x| + c
x
Gotten the impression yet that there are more than a few mistakes made by students when inte-
grating x1 ? I hope so, because many students lose huge amounts of points on these mistakes.
This is the last one that I’ll be covering however.
In this case, students seem to make the mistake of assuming that if x1 integrates to ln |x| then
so must one over anything! The following table gives some examples of incorrect uses of this
formula.

Integral Incorrect Answer Correct Answer

Z
1
ln x2 + 1 + c tan−1 (x) + c


dx
x2 +1
Z
1
ln x2 + c −x−1 + c = − x1 + c


dx
x2
Z
1
dx ln | cos(x)| + c ln | sec(x) + tan(x)| + c
cos(x)

So, be careful when attempting to use this formula. This formula can only be used when the integral
is of the form x1 dx. Often, an integral can be written in this form with an appropriate u-substitution
R

(the two integrals from previous example for instance), but if it can’t be then the integral will NOT
use this formula so don’t try to.

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Improper use of Integration formulas in general

This one is really the same issue as the previous one, but so many students have trouble with
logarithms that I wanted to treat that example separately to make the point.
So, as with the previous issue students tend to try and use “simple” formulas that they know to
be true on integrals that, on the surface, kind of look the same. So, for instance we’ve got the
following two formulas,

√
Z
2 3
u du = u 2 + C
3
Z
1
u2 du = u3 + C
3

The mistake here is to assume that if these are true then the following must also be true.
Z p
2 3
anything du = (anything) 2 + C
3
Z
1
(anything) du = (anything)3 + C
2
3

This just isn’t true! The first set of formulas work because it is the square root of a single variable
or a single variable squared. If there is anything other than a single u under the square root or
being squared then those formulas are worthless. On occasion these will hold for things other than
a single u, but in general they won’t hold so be careful!
Here’s another table with a couple of examples of these formulas not being used correctly.

Integral Incorrect Answer Correct Answer

Z p
2 2
3 1 p 2 p 
x2 + 1 dx x +1 2 +C x x + 1 + ln |x + x2 + 1| + C
3 2
Z
1 x 1
cos2 (x)dx cos3 (x) + C + sin (2x) + C
3 2 4

If you aren’t convinced that the incorrect answers really aren’t correct then remember that you can
always check you answers to indefinite integrals by differentiating the answer. If you did everything
correctly you should get the function you originally integrated, although in each case it will take
some simplification to get the answers to be the same.
Also, if you don’t see how to get the correct answer for these they typically show up in a Calculus II
class. The second however, you could do with only Calculus I under your belt if you can remember
an appropriate trig formula.

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Dropping limit notation

The remainder of the errors in this document consists mostly of notational errors that students tend
to make.
I’ll start with limits. Students tend to get lazy and start dropping limit notation after the first step.
For example, an incorrectly worked problem is

x2 − 9 (x − 3) (x + 3)
lim = =x+3=6
x→3 x − 3 x−3

There are several things wrong with this. First, when you drop the limit symbol you are saying that
you’ve in fact taken the limit. So, in the first equality,

x2 − 9 (x − 3) (x + 3)
lim =
x→3 x − 3 x−3
you are saying that the value of the limit is
(x − 3) (x + 3)
x−3
and this is clearly not the case. Also, in the final equality,

x+3=6

you are making the claim that each side is the same, but this is only true provided x = 3 and what
you really are trying to say is
lim x + 3 = 6
x→3

You may know what you mean, but someone else will have a very hard time deciphering your work.
Also, your instructor will not know what you mean by this and won’t know if you understand that
the limit symbols are required in every step until you actually take the limit. If you are one of my
students, I won’t even try to read your mind and I will assume that you didn’t understand and take
points off accordingly.
So, while you may feel that it is silly and unnecessary to write limits down at every step it is proper
notation and in my class I expect you to use proper notation. The correct way to work this limit
is.
x2 − 9 (x − 3) (x + 3)
lim = lim = lim x + 3 = 6
x→3 x − 3 x→3 x−3 x→3

The limit is required at every step until you actually take the limit, at which point the limit must be
dropped as I have done above.

Improper derivative notation

When asked to differentiate f (x) = x x3 − 2 I will get the following for an answer on occa-

sion.
(x) = x x3 − 2 = x4 − 2x = 4x3 − 2

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This is again a situation where you may know what you’re intending to say here, but anyone else
who reads this will come away with the idea that x4 − 2x = 4x3 − 2 and that is clearly NOT what
you are trying to say. However, it IS what you are saying when you write it this way.
The proper notation is

f (x) = x x3 − 2 = x4 − 2x

f 0 (x) = 4x3 − 2

Loss of integration notation

There are many dropped notation errors that occur with integrals. Let’s start with this exam-
ple. Z
x (3x − 2) dx = 3x2 − 2x = x3 − x2 + c

As with the derivative example above, both of these equalities are incorrect. The minute you drop
the integral sign you are saying that you’ve done the integral! So, this means that the first equality
is saying that the value of the integral is 3x2 − 2x, when in reality all you’re doing is simplifying the
function. Likewise, the last equality says that the two functions, 3x2 − 2x and x3 − x2 + c are equal,
when they are not! Here is the correct way to work this problem.
Z Z
x (3x − 2) dx = 3x2 − 2xdx = x3 − x2 + c

Another big problem in dropped notation is students dropping the dx at the end of the integrals.
For instance, Z
3x2 − 2x

The problem with this is that the dx tells us where the integral stops! So, this can mean a couple
of different things.
Z
3x2 − 2xdx = x3 − x2 + c OR
Z
3x2 dx − 2x = x3 − 2x + c

Without the dx a reader is left to try and intuit where exactly the integral ends! The best way to
think of this is that parenthesis always come in pairs “(” and “)”. You don’t open a set of parenthesis
R R
without closing it. Likewise, is always paired up with a dx. You can always think of as the
opening parenthesis and the dx as the closing parenthesis.
Another dropped notation error that I see on a regular basis is with definite integrals. Students tend
to drop the limits of integration after the first step and do the rest of the problem with implied limits

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of integration as follows.
Z 2 Z
x (3x − 2) dx = 3x2 − 2xdx = x3 − x2 = 8 − 4 − (1 − 1) = 4
1

Again, the first equality here just doesn’t make sense! The answer to a definite integral is a number,
while the answer to an indefinite integral is a function. When written as above you are saying the
answer to the definite integral and the answer to the indefinite integral are the same when they
clearly aren’t!
Likewise, the second to last equality just doesn’t make sense. Here you are saying that the function,
x3 − x2 is equal to 8 − 4 − (1 − 1) = 4 and again, this just isn’t true! Here is the correct way to work
this problem.
Z 2 Z 2 2
3x2 − 2xdx = x3 − x2


x (3x − 2) dx = = 8 − 4 − (1 − 1) = 4
1 1 1

Loss of notation in general

The previous three topics that I’ve discussed have all been examples of dropped notation errors
that students first learning calculus tend to make on a regular basis. Be careful with these kinds of
errors. You may know what you’re trying to say, but improper notation may imply something totally
different.
Remember that in many ways written mathematics is like a language. If you mean to say to some-
one
“I’m thirsty, could you please get me a glass of water to drink.”
You wouldn’t drop words that you considered extraneous to the message and just say
“Thirsty, drink”
This is meaningless and the person that you were talking to may get the idea that you are thirsty
and wanted to drink something. They would definitely not get the idea that you wanted water to
drink or that you were asking them to get it for you. You would know that is what you wanted, but
those two words would not convey that to anyone else.
This may seem like a silly example to you, because you would never do something like this. You
would give the whole sentence and not just two words because you are fully aware of how confusing
simply saying those two words would be. That, however, is exactly the point of the example.
You know better than to skip important words in spoken language, so you shouldn’t skip important
notation (i.e. words) in writing down the language of mathematics. You may feel that they aren’t
important parts to the message, but they are. Anyone else reading the message you wrote down
would not necessarily know that you neglected to write down those important pieces of notation
and would very likely misread the message you were trying to impart.

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So, be careful with proper notation. In my class, I grade the “message” you write down not the
“message” that you meant to impart. I can’t read your mind so I don’t even try to. If the “message”
that I read in grading your homework or exam is wrong, I will grade it appropriately.

Dropped constant of integration

Dropping the constant of integration on indefinite integrals (the +c part) is one of the biggest errors
that students make in integration. There are actually two errors here that students make. Some
students just don’t put it in at all, and others drop it from intermediate steps and then just tack it
onto the final answer.
Those that don’t include it at all tend to be the students that don’t remember (or never really under-
stood) that the indefinite integrals give the most general possible function that we could differentiate
to get the integrand (the function we integrated). Because it is the most general possible function
we’ve got to include the constant, since constants differentiate to zero.
For those that drop it from all intermediate steps and just tack it on at the end there are other
issues. I suppose that the problem is these (in fact it’s probably most) students just don’t see
why it’s important to include the constant of integration. This is partially a problem with the class
itself. Calculus classes just don’t really have good examples of why the constant of integration is
so important or how it comes into play in later steps.
The first place where constants of integration play a major role is a first course in differential equa-
tions. Here the constant of integration will show up in the middle of the problem. If it’s dropped there
and then just added back in on the final answer or not put in at all, the answer will be very wrong.
The answer won’t be wrong because the instructor said that it was wrong without the constant or
because it was only added in at the last step. The answer will be wrong because the function you
get without dropping it will be totally different from the function you get if you do drop it!

1 1
Misconceptions about and
0 ∞
This is not so much about an actual error that students make, but instead a misconception that
can, on occasion, lead to errors. This is also a misconception that is often encouraged by laziness
on the part of the instructor.
1
So, just what is this misconception? Often, we will write ∞ = 0 and 10 = ∞. The problem is that
neither of these are technically correct and in fact the second, depending on the situation, can
actually be 10 = −∞. All three of these are really limits and we just short hand them. What we

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really should write is

1
lim =0
x→∞ x
1
lim =∞
x→0+ x

1
lim = −∞
x→0− x

In the first case 1 over something increasingly large is increasingly small and so in the limit we
get zero. In the last two cases note that we’ve got to use one-sided limits as lim x1 doesn’t even
x→0
exist! In these two cases, 1 over something increasingly small is increasingly large and will have
the sign of the denominator and so in the limit it goes to either ∞ or −∞.

Indeterminate forms
This is actually a generalization of the previous topic. The two operations above, ∞−∞ and ∞ ∞ are
called indeterminate forms because there is no one single value for them. Depending on the situation
they have a very wide range of possible answers.
There are many more indeterminate forms that you need to look out for. As with the previous
discussion there is no way to determine their value without taking the situation into consideration.
Here are a few of the more common indeterminate forms.
∞ 0
∞−∞ 0·∞
∞ 0
00 1∞ ∞0

Let’s just take a brief look at 00 to see the potential problems. Here we really have two separate
rules that are at odds with each other. Typically we have 0n = 0 (provided n is positive) and a0 = 1.
Each of these rules implies that we could get different answers. Depending on the situation we
could get either 0 or 1 as an answer here. In fact, it’s also possible to get something totally different
from 0 or 1 as an answer here as well.
All the others listed here have similar problems. So, when dealing with indeterminate forms you
need to be careful and not jump to conclusions about the value.

Treating infinity as a number

In the following discussion I’m going to be working exclusively with real numbers (things can be
different with say complex numbers). I’m also going to think of infinity (∞) as a really, really large
number. This is not technically accurate as infinity is really a concept to denote a state of endless-
ness or a state of no limits in any direction. In terms of a number line infinity (∞) denotes moving
in the positive direction without ever stopping. Likewise, negative infinity (−∞) on a number line
denotes moving in the negative direction without ever stopping.

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The problem with the conceptual definition of infinity is that many students have a hard time dealing
with arithmetic involving infinity when they think if in it terms of its conceptual definition. However,
if we simply call it a really, really large number it seems to help a little so that’s how I’m going to
think of it for the purposes of this discussion.
Most students have run across infinity at some point in time prior to a calculus class. However,
when they have dealt with it, it was just a symbol used to represent a really, really large positive
or negative number and that was the extent of it. Once they get into a calculus class students are
asked to do some basic algebra with infinity and this is where they get into trouble. Infinity is NOT a
number and for the most part doesn’t behave like a number. When you add two non-zero numbers
you get a new number. For example, 4 + 7 = 11. With infinity this is not true. With infinity you have
the following.

∞+a=∞ where a 6= −∞
∞+∞=∞

In other words, a really, really large positive number (∞) plus any positive number, regardless of
the size, is still a really, really large positive number. Likewise, you can add a negative number (i.e.
a < 0) to a really, really large positive number and stay really, really large and positive. So, addition
involving infinity can be dealt with in an intuitive way if you’re careful. Note as well that the a must
NOT be negative infinity. If it is, there are some serious issues that we need to deal with.
Subtraction with negative infinity can also be dealt with in an intuitive way. A really, really large
negative number minus any positive number, regardless of its size, is still a really, really large
negative number. Subtracting a negative number (i.e. a < 0) from a really, really large negative
number will still be a really, really large negative number. Or,

−∞ − a = −∞ where a 6= −∞
−∞ − ∞ = −∞

Again, a must not be negative infinity to avoid some potentially serious difficulties.
Multiplication can also be dealt with fairly intuitively. A really, really large number (positive, or
negative) times any number, regardless of size, is still a really, really large number. In the case of
multiplication we have

(a) (∞) = ∞ if a > 0

(a) (∞) = −∞ if a < 0

(∞) (∞) = ∞

(−∞) (−∞) = ∞

(−∞) (∞) = −∞

What you know about products of positive and negative numbers is still true.

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Some forms of division can be dealt with intuitively as well. A really, really large number divided by
a number that isn’t too large is still a really, really large number.
∞
=∞ if a > 0
a
∞
= −∞ if a < 0
a
−∞
= −∞ if a > 0
a
−∞
=∞ if a < 0
a

Division of a number by infinity is somewhat intuitive, but there are a couple of subtleties that you
need to be aware of. I go into this in more detail in the section about Misconceptions about 10
1
and ∞ above, but one way to think of it is the following. A number that isn’t too large divided by
infinity (a really, really large number) is a very, very, very small number. In other words,
a
=0
∞
a
=0
−∞

So, I’ve dealt with almost every basic algebraic operation involving infinity. There are two cases
that that I haven’t dealt with yet. These are

∞−∞=?
±∞
=?
±∞

The problem with these two is that intuition doesn’t really help here. A really, really large number
minus a really, really large number can be anything (−∞, a constant, or ∞). Likewise, a really, really
large number divided by a really, really large number can also be anything (± ∞ – this depends on
sign issues, 0, or a non-zero constant).
What you’ve got to remember here is that there are really, really large numbers and then there are
really, really, really large numbers. In other words, some infinities are larger than other infinities.
With addition, multiplication and the first sets of division I worked this isn’t an issue. The general
size of the infinity just doesn’t affect the answer. However, with the subtraction and division I listed
above, it does matter as you will see.
Here is one way to think of this idea that some infinities are larger than others. This is a fairly dry
and technical way to think of this and your calculus problems will probably never use this stuff, but
this it is a nice way of looking at this. Also, please note that I’m not trying to give a precise proof
of anything here. I’m just trying to give you a little insight into the problems with infinity and how
some infinities can be thought of as larger than others.
Let’s start by looking at how many integers there are. Clearly, I hope, there are an infinite number
of them, but let’s try to get a better grasp on the “size” of this infinity. So, pick any two integers

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completely at random. Start at the smaller of the two and list, in increasing order, all the integers
that come after that. Eventually we will reach the larger of the two integers that you picked.
Depending on the relative size of the two integers it might take a very, very long time to list all
the integers between them and there isn’t really a purpose to doing it. But, it could be done if we
wanted to and that’s the important part.
Because we could list all these integers between two randomly chosen integers we say that the
integers are countably infinite. Again, there is no real reason to actually do this, it is simply something
that can be done if we should chose to do so.
In general, a set of numbers is called countably infinite if we can find a way to list them all out. In
a more precise mathematical setting this is generally done with a special kind of function called
a bijection that associates each number in the set with exactly one of the positive integers. To see
some more details of this see the pdf given above.
It can also be shown that the set of all fractions are also countably infinite, although this is a little
harder to show and is not really the purpose of this discussion. To see a proof of this see the pdf
given above. It has a very nice proof of this fact.
Let’s contrast this by trying to figure out how many numbers there are in the interval (0, 1). By
numbers, I mean all possible fractions that lie between zero and one as well as all possible decimals
(that aren’t fractions) that lie between zero and one. The following is similar to the proof given in the
pdf above, but was nice enough and easy enough (I hope) that I wanted to include it here.
To start let’s assume that all the numbers in the interval (0, 1) are countably infinite. This means
that there should be a way to list all of them out. We could have something like the following,

x1 = 0.692096 · · ·
x2 = 0.171034 · · ·
x3 = 0.993671 · · ·
x4 = 0.045908 · · ·
.. ..
. .

Now, select the ith decimal out of xi as shown below

x1 = 0.692096 · · ·
x2 = 0.171034 · · ·
x3 = 0.993671 · · ·
x4 = 0.045908 · · ·
.. ..
. .

and form a new number with these digits. So, for our example we would have the number

x = 0.6739 · · ·

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In this new decimal replace all the 3’s with a 1 and then replace every other number with a 3. In
the case of our example this would yield the new number

x = 0.3313 · · ·

Notice that this number is in the interval (0, 1) and also notice that given how we choose the digits
of the number this number will not be equal to the first number in our list, x1 , because the first digit
of each is guaranteed to not be the same. Likewise, this new number will not get the same number
as the second in our list, x2 , because the second digit of each is guaranteed to not be the same.
Continuing in this manner we can see that this new number we constructed, x, is guaranteed to
not be in our listing. But this contradicts the initial assumption that we could list out all the numbers
in the interval (0, 1). Hence, it must not be possible to list out all the numbers in the interval
(0, 1).
Sets of numbers, such as all the numbers in (0,1), that we can’t write down in a list are called
uncountably infinite.
The reason for going over this is the following. An infinity that is uncountably infinite is significantly
larger than an infinity that is only countably infinite. So, if we take the difference of two infinities we
have a couple of possibilities.

∞ (uncountable) − ∞ (countable) = ∞
∞ (countable) − ∞ (uncountable) = −∞

Notice that we didn’t put down a difference of two infinities of the same type. Depending upon the
context there might still have some ambiguity about just what the answer would be in this case,
but that is a whole different topic.
We could also do something similar for quotients of infinities.

∞ (countable)
=0
∞ (uncountable)
∞ (uncountable)
=∞
∞ (countable)

Again, we avoided a quotient of two infinities of the same type since, again depending upon the
context, there might still be ambiguities about its value.

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