Properties of Limits

2
 Calculating of Limits Using the Limit
2.3
Laws
 Properties of Limits (1 of 5)
In this section we use the following properties of limits, called the Limit Laws, to
calculate limits.

Limit Laws Suppose that c is a constant and the limits lim f ( x ) and lim g ( x )
x →a x →a
exist. Then

1. lim f ( x ) + g ( x )  = lim f ( x ) + lim g ( x ) f (x) lim f ( x )

x →a x →a x →a
5. lim = x →a
if lim g ( x )  0
x →a g (x) lim g ( x ) x →a
2. xlim f ( x ) − g ( x )  = lim f ( x ) − lim g ( x ) x →a
→a  x →a x →a

3. lim cf ( x )  = c lim f ( x )

x →a x →a

4. xlim f ( x ) g ( x )  = lim f ( x )  lim g ( x )

→a x →a x →a

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Properties of Limits (2 of 5)
These five laws can be stated verbally as follows:

Sum Law 1. The limit of a sum is the sum of the limits.

Difference Law 2. The limit of a difference is the difference of the

limits.

Constant Multiple Law 3. The limit of a constant times a function is the

constant times the limit of the function.

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Properties of Limits (3 of 5)

Product Law 4. The limit of a product is the product of the limits.

Quotient Law 5. The limit of a quotient is the quotient of the limits

(provided that the limit of the denominator is not 0).

For instance, if f(x) is close to L and g(x) is close to M, it is reasonable to

conclude that f(x) + g(x) is close to L + M.

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 Example 1
Use the Limit Laws and the graphs of f and g in Figure 1 to evaluate the
following limits, if they exist.
f (x)
(a) lim f ( x ) + 5g ( x )  (b) lim f ( x ) g ( x )  (c) lim
x →−2 x →1 x →2 g (x)

Figure 1

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Example 1(a) – Solution
From the graphs of f and g we see that
lim f ( x ) = 1 and lim g ( x ) = −1
x →−2 x →−2
Therefore we have

lim f ( x ) + 5g ( x )  = lim f ( x ) + lim 5g ( x )  (by Limit Law 1)

x →−2 x →−2 x →−2

= lim f ( x ) + 5 lim g ( x ) (by Limit Law 3)

x →−2 x →−2

= 1 + 5 ( −1)
= −4

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Example 1(b) – Solution
We see that lim f ( x ) = 2. But lim g ( x ) does not exist because the left
x →1 x →1
and right limits are different:
lim− g ( x ) = −2 lim+ g ( x ) = −1
x →1 x →1

So we can’t use Law 4 for the desired limit. But we can use Law 4 for the
one-sided limits:
lim− f ( x ) g ( x )  = lim− f ( x )  lim− g ( x ) = 2  ( −2 ) = −4
x →1 x →1 x →1

lim+ f ( x ) g ( x )  = lim+ f ( x )  lim+ g ( x ) = 2  ( −1) = −2

x →1 x →1 x →1

The left and right limits aren’t equal, so lim f ( x ) g ( x )  does not exist.
x →1

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Example 1(c) – Solution
The graphs show that
lim f ( x )  1.4 and lim g ( x ) = 0
x →2 x →2

Because the limit of the denominator is 0, we can’t

use Law 5.
The given limit does not exist because the
denominator approaches 0 while the numerator
approaches a nonzero number. Figure 1

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Properties of Limits (4 of 5)
If we use the Product Law repeatedly with g(x) = f(x), we obtain the following law.
n
6. lim f ( x )  =  lim f ( x ) 
n
Power Law where n is a positive integer
x →a  x →a 

Root Law 7. lim n f ( x ) = n lim f ( x ) where n is a positive integer

x →a x →a

If n is even, we assume that lim f ( x )  0.

 x →a 
In applying these seven limit laws, we need to use two special limits:

8. lim c = c 9. lim x = a
x →a x →a

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Properties of Limits (5 of 5)
These limits are obvious from an intuitive point of view (state them in words or
draw graphs of y = c and y = x).

If we now put f(x) = x in Law 6 and use Law 9, we get another useful special
limit for power functions.
10. lim x n = a n where n is a positive integer
x →a

If we put f(x) = x in Law 7 and use Law 9, we get a similar special limit for roots.

11. lim n x = n a where n is a positive integer

x →a

(If n is even, we assume that a > 0.)

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Evaluating Limits by Direct Substitution

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Evaluating Limits by Direct Substitution (1 of 2)
Direct Substitution Property If f is a polynomial or a rational function and a is
in the domain of f, then
lim f ( x ) = f ( a )
x →a

Functions that have the Direct Substitution Property are called continuous at a.

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Example 3
Find
x2 − 1
lim .
x →1 x − 1

Solution:
Let f ( x ) = ( x 2 − 1) / ( x − 1). We can’t find the limit by substituting x = 1
because f(1) isn’t defined. Nor can we apply the Quotient Law, because the
limit of the denominator is 0.

Instead, we need to do some preliminary algebra. We factor the numerator as

a difference of squares:
x 2 − 1 ( x − 1)( x + 1)
=
x −1 x −1
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Example 3 – Solution
The numerator and denominator have a common factor of x − 1. When we take
the limit as x approaches 1, we have x ≠ 1 and so x − 1 ≠ 0.

Therefore we can cancel the common factor, x − 1, and then compute the limit
by direct substitution as follows:

x2 − 1 ( x − 1)( x + 1)
lim = lim
x →1 x − 1 x →1 x −1

= lim( x + 1) = 1 + 1 = 2
x →1

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Evaluating Limits by Direct Substitution (2 of 2)
In general, we have the following useful fact.

If f(x) = g(x) when x ≠ a, then lim f ( x ) = lim g ( x ) , provided the limits exist.
x →a x →a

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Using One-Sided Limits

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Using One-Sided Limits (1 of 1)
Some limits are best calculated by first finding the left- and right-hand limits.

The following theorem says that a two-sided limit exists if and only if both of the
one-sided limits exist and are equal.

1 Theorem lim f ( x ) = L if and only if lim− f ( x ) = L = lim+ f ( x )

x →a x →a x →a

When computing one-sided limits, we use the fact that the Limit Laws also hold
for one-sided limits.

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Example 7
Show that lim x = 0.
x →0

Solution:
We know that
x if x0
x =
− x if x0
Since x = x for x > 0, we have

lim+ x = lim+ x = 0
x →0 x →0

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Example 7 – Solution
For x < 0 we have x = − x and so

lim− x = lim− ( − x ) = 0
x →0 x →0

Therefore, by Theorem 1,

lim x = 0.
x →0

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Example 8
|𝑥|
Prove that the limit 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0 does not exist.
𝑥
Solution
Recall that |𝑥| = 𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 > 0; |𝑥| = −𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 < 0. Then we have
|𝑥| 𝑥
𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0+ = 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0+ = 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0+ 1= 1.
𝑥 𝑥

|𝑥| −𝑥
𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0− = 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0− = 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑥→0− (−1)= -1.
𝑥 𝑥

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The Squeeze Theorem

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The Squeeze Theorem (1 of 2)
The following two theorems describe how the limits of functions are related when
the values of one function are greater than (or equal to) those of another.

2 Theorem If f(x) ≤ g(x) when x is near a (except possibly at a) and the limits of
f and g both exist as x approaches a, then
lim f ( x )  lim g ( x )
x →a x →a

3 The Squeeze Theorem If f(x) ≤ g(x) ≤ h(x) when x is near a (except possibly
at a) and
lim f ( x ) = lim h ( x ) = L
x →a x →a
then
lim g ( x ) = L
x →a

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The Squeeze Theorem (2 of 2)
The Squeeze Theorem, which is sometimes called the Sandwich Theorem or
the Pinching Theorem, is illustrated by Figure 7.

Figure 7

It says that if g(x) is squeezed between f(x) and h(x) near a, and if f and h have
the same limit L at a, then g is forced to have the same limit L at a.

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Example 11
Show that
1
lim x sin = 0.
2
x →0 x

Solution:
First note that we cannot rewrite the limit as the product of the limits
lim x 2 and lim sin(1/ x ) because lim sin(1/ x ) does not exist.
x →0 x →0 x →0

We can find the limit by using the Squeeze Theorem.

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Example 11 – Solution (1 of 3)
To apply the Squeeze Theorem we need to find a function f smaller than
g(x) = x2 sin(1/x) and a function h bigger than g such that both f(x) and h(x)
approach 0 as x → 0.

To do this we use our knowledge of the sine function. Because the sine of any
number lies between −1 and 1, we can write

1
4 −1  sin  1
x

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Example 11 – Solution (2 of 3)
Any inequality remains true when multiplied by a positive number. We know
that x 2  0 for all x and so, multiplying each side of the inequalities in (4) by x 2 ,
we get
1
− x  x sin  x 2
2 2
x
as illustrated by Figure 8.

y = x 2 sin(1 / x )
Figure 8

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Example 11 – Solution (3 of 3)
We know that
lim x 2 = 0 and lim( − x 2 ) = 0
x →0 x →0

Taking f ( x) = − x 2 , g ( x) = x 2 sin(1/ x), and h( x ) = x 2 in the Squeeze Theorem,

we obtain
1
lim x sin = 0
2
x →0 x

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