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    Topic 5. Calculus

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    Topic 5. Calculus

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    Topic 5. Calculus (1)

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    Topic 5. Calculus

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    of 5

    TOPIC 5: CALCULUS Christos Nikolaidis

    5.1 THE LIMIT limf(x) – THE DERIVATIVE f ΄(x): A ROUGH IDEA

    This paragraph may look very “technical”. Do not pay much attention on
    your first reading. You may skip and proceed to paragraph 5.2; you will
    realize that the derivative in practice is much easier than it appears here!

     THE LIMIT limf(x)


    Consider the function f(x) = 2x+3.

    Let us investigate how the function behaves at x=2. Clearly f(2)=7.


    But what happens when x is very close to 2?

    x approaches 2- x approaches 2+
    (from values less than 2) (from values greater than 2)
    x f(x) x f(x)
    1.9 6.8 2.1 7.2
    1.99 6.98 2.01 7.02
    1.999 6.998 2.001 7.002

    if x 2- then f(x)  7 if x 2+ then f(x)  7

    Thus in general, if x tends to 2, f(x) tends to 7.


    In order to express this fact we write

    lim f(x)  7
    x 2

    and say that: the limit of f(x), as x tends to 2, is 7.

    1
    TOPIC 5: CALCULUS Christos Nikolaidis

    Remark
    In fact for the left column we write lim- f(x)  7
    x 2

    while for the right column we write lim f(x)  7


    x 2

    and these are called side limits. If the side limits are equal then

    lim f(x)  7
    x 2

    In this example
    lim f(x)  7 which in fact is f(2)
    x 2

    lim f(x)  9 which in fact is f(3)


    x 3

    The situation lim f(x)  f(a) occurs very often, however, this is not
    x a

    always the case (otherwise the limit would be nothing more than a
    simple substitution!).

    Let’ s see a case where the limit is not a simple substitution!

    sinx
    Consider the function f(x) = . It is not defined at x=0.
    x

    However, we will find (informally) the limit

    sinx
    lim .
    x 0 x

    The graph looks like


    y

    x
    -5 5

    Although f(0) does not exist, it seems, by observation, that that the
    limit at x=0 is 1.

    2
    TOPIC 5: CALCULUS Christos Nikolaidis

    Let’s approach x=0, by using our GDC:

    x approaches 0- x approaches 0+
    (from values less than 0) (from values greater than 0)
    x f(x) x f(x)
    -0.1 0.998334 0.1 0.998334
    -0.01 0.999983 0.01 0.999983
    -0.001 0.999999 0.001 0.999999

    if x 0= then f(x)  1 if x 0+ then f(x)  1

    The limit when x tends to 0 is 1. We write

    sinx
    lim 1
    x 0 x

    The limit can be +∞ or -∞.


    1
    Let f(x)=
    x

    At x=0, we only have side-limits:


    1 1
    lim =-  and lim+ =+ 
    x 0 x x 0 x

    In fact, these results justify that x=0 is a horizontal asymptote.

    3
    TOPIC 5: CALCULUS Christos Nikolaidis

    In general:
    If lim f(x)   or lim f(x)   (or both) we say that
    x a x a

    x=a is a vertical asymptote.

    We also define limits of the form lim f(x) or lim f(x) .


    x   x  

    we observe in fact the behavior of the function


    when x approaches +  (large positive) or -  (large negative).
    1
    In our example f(x)= (see graph above):
    x
    1 1
    lim =0 and lim = 0 .
    x   x x   x

    For example, if x=1,000,000 or -1,000,000, then y is close to 0.

    In fact, these results justify that, y=0 is a horizontal asymptote.

    In general:
    If lim f(x)  a or lim f(x)  a (or both), we say that
    x   x - 

    y=a is a horizontal asymptote.

    EXAMPLE 1

    x 3
    f(x) 
    x2

     x=2 is a vertical asymptote.


    The formal justification is that lim f(x)   and lim f(x)  
    x 2 x 2

     y=1 is a horizontal asymptote.


    The formal justification is that lim f(x)  1 and lim f(x)  1
    x   x - 

    4
    TOPIC 5: CALCULUS Christos Nikolaidis

    EXAMPLE 2

    f(x) = 20e-x + 10 g(x) = ln(x- 4)

     y=10 is a horizontal asymptote for f(x).


    The formal justification is that lim f(x)  10
    x 

     x=4 is a vertical asymptote for g(x).


    The formal justification is that lim f(x)  
    x 4

    Look at an interesting limit that provides the irrational number


    e = 2.7182818…

    EXAMPLE 2
    x
     1
    Investigate (informally) the limit: lim  1   .
    x    x

    x approaches + 
    x f(x)
    1000 2.7169239…
    1000000 2.7182804…
    1010 2.7182818…

    The resulting limit is in fact the number e=2.7182818… That is,


    x
     1
    lim  1   = e .
    x    x

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