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2.2 - The Limit of A Function

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2.2 - The Limit of A Function

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aniraspan11
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Name: ____________________ Calculus 12 Date: _____________

Unit 2 – Limits and Derivatives


2.2 – The limit of a Function
In this section we are going to take an intuitive approach to limits and try to get a feel for what they are and what they can tell us
about a function. With that goal in mind we are not going to get into how we actually compute limits yet. We will instead rely
on what we did in the past as well as another approach to guess the value of the limits.

x2  9
Consider f ( x )  . This function is defined for all “x”, except when _________________.
x3
Question: What happens when “x” approaches 4? ______
Question: What happens to the value of f (x ) as “x” approaches 3? ______
x2  9
Table of values of f ( x ) 
x3
X Y The value of f (x ) = ______ as “x” approaches 3.

The Calculus notation is: __________________

We say it as: ____________________________

ONE SIDED LIMITS


____________________________
Left-hand limit: __________________________________________________________
x2  9
Using f ( x )  , the calculus notation is: ___________________________
x3
Right-hand limit: _________________________________________________________
x2  9
Using f ( x )  , the calculus notation is: ___________________________
x3
* For a limit to exist, we need the limit from the left side to equal the limit from the right side. *
Calculus Notation of the previous statement: _______________________________________

Definition

We say that the limit of f(x) is L as x approaches a and write this as

provided we can make f(x) as close to L as we want for all x sufficiently close to a, from both sides,

Without actually letting x be a.


Example 1: Make a sketch of the graph and find the following limits:

1 x  x 2 if x  1
a) f ( x)  2  x b) f ( x )  c) f ( x)  d) f ( x)  
x x  x  1 if x  1

lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x ) 


x 1 x 0 x 0 x 1

lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x ) 


x 1 x 0 x 0 x 1

lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x )  lim f ( x ) 


x 1 x 0 x 0 x 1

1
Example 2: For the function f ( x )  , sketch a graph and find:
x2
lim f ( x )
x 0

lim f ( x )
x 0

lim f ( x ) .
x0

Note 1: In example #2, the value of f(x) got larger and larger without bound as “x” approached 0 from the
1
left and the right. We do write the limit as lim   to indicate that f (x ) does get larger without
x 0 x2
bound, even though technically the lim f ( x ) does not exist.
x0

Note 2: When f (x ) has an infinite limit as “x” approaches “a” from the right and/or from the left, the

graph of the function gets closer and closer to the vertical line _______ as “x” approaches “a”. In

such a case, the line is called a ___________________________ of the graph.


Examples 3: For the following graphs, find the limits.
1) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x )
x 2 x 0 x 0

lim f ( x ) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x )


x0 x 2  x 2 

lim f ( x ) lim f ( x )
x2 x 4 

2) lim g ( x ) lim g ( x ) lim g ( x ) 3) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x )


x 3 x 1 x 1 x 0 x 0 x 0

lim g ( x ) lim g ( x ) lim g ( x ) f (0) lim f ( x ) lim f ( x)


x 1 x 2  x 2 x 2  x2

lim g ( x ) lim g ( x ) f ( 2) lim f ( x ) f (6)


x2 x1 x6

x 2  4 x  12
Examples 4: Estimate the value of the following limit lim f ( x) f ( x) 
x2 x2  2 x
Notice that I did say estimate the value of the limit. Again, we are not going to directly compute limits in this section. The point
of this section is to give us a better idea of how limits work and what they can tell us about the function .

x f(x) x f(x)
2.5 1.5 Let’s graph the function
2.1 1.9
2.01 1.99
2.001 1.999
2.0001 1.9999
2.00001 1.99999

From this table it appears that the function is going to _____ as x approaches ____

Assignment: p. 79 #5, 7, 9 needs graphing Calc., 3, 15, 19, 23, 25 &27

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