StewartCalcET7e 02 02

2 Limits and Derivatives
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

2.2 The Limit of a Function
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

The Limit of a Function
To find the tangent to a curve or the velocity of an object,
we now turn our attention to limits in general and numerical
and graphical methods for computing them.
Let’s investigate the behavior of the function f defined by

f (x) = x2 – x + 2 for values of x near 2.
3
The following table gives values of f (x) for values of x close
to 2 but not equal to 2.
4
From the table and the graph of f (a parabola) shown in
Figure 1 we see that when x is close to 2 (on either side of
2), f (x) is close to 4.
Figure 1 5
In fact, it appears that we can make the values of f (x) as
close as we like to 4 by taking x sufficiently close to 2.
We express this by saying “the limit of the function

f (x) = x2 – x + 2 as x approaches 2 is equal to 4.”
The notation for this is
6
In general, we use the following notation.
This says that the values of f (x) approach L as x

approaches a. In other words, the values of f (x) tend to get
closer and closer to the number L as x gets closer and
closer to the number a (from either side of a) but x  a.
7
An alternative notation for
is f (x)  L as xa
which is usually read “f (x) approaches L as x approaches

a.”
Notice the phrase “but x  a” in the definition of limit. This

means that in finding the limit of f (x) as x approaches a, we
never consider x = a. In fact, f (x) need not even be defined
when x = a. The only thing that matters is how f is defined
near a. 8
Figure 2 shows the graphs of three functions. Note that in
part (c), f (a) is not defined and in part (b), f (a)  L.
But in each case, regardless of what happens at a, it is true

that limxa f (x) = L.
in all three
cases Figure 2
9
Example 1
Guess the value of
Solution:
Notice that the function f (x) = (x – 1)(x2 – 1) is not defined
when x = 1, but that doesn’t matter because the definition
of limxa f (x) says that we consider values of x that are
close to a but not equal to a.
10
Example 1 – Solution cont’d
The tables below give values of f (x) (correct to six decimal

places) for values of x that approach 1 (but are not equal to
1).
On the basis of the values in the tables, we make the

guess that
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Example 1 is illustrated by the graph of f in Figure 3.
Now let’s change f slightly by giving it the value 2 when
x = 1 and calling the resulting function g:
Figure 3
12
This new function g still has the same limit as x approaches
1. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4
13
One-Sided Limits
14
One-Sided Limits
The function H is defined by
H (t) approaches 0 as t approaches 0 from the left and H (t)

approaches 1 as t approaches 0 from the right.
We indicate this situation symbolically by writing
and
15
One-Sided Limits
The symbol “t  0–” indicates that we consider only values
of t that are less than 0.
Likewise, “t  0+” indicates that we consider only values of

t that are greater than 0.
16
One-Sided Limits
Notice that Definition 2 differs from Definition 1 only in that

we require x to be less than a.
17
One-Sided Limits
Similarly, if we require that x be greater than a, we get “the
right-hand limit of f (x) as x approaches a is equal to L”
and we write
Thus the symbol “x  a+” means that we consider only

x > a. These definitions are illustrated in Figure 9.
Figure 9 18
One-Sided Limits
By comparing Definition 1 with the definitions of one-sided
limits, we see that the following is true.
19
Example 7
The graph of a function g is shown in Figure 10. Use it to
state the values (if they exist) of the following:
Figure 10
20
Example 7 – Solution
From the graph we see that the values of g(x) approach 3
as x approaches 2 from the left, but they approach 1 as
x approaches 2 from the right.
Therefore
and
(c) Since the left and right limits are different, we conclude
from that limx2 g(x) does not exist.
21
The graph also shows that
and
(f) This time the left and right limits are the same and so, by
, we have
Despite this fact, notice that g(5)  2.

22
Infinite Limits
23
Infinite Limits
Another notation for limxa f (x) =  is
f (x)   as x  a
24
Infinite Limits
Again, the symbol  is not a number, but the expression
limxa f (x) =  is often read as
“the limit of f (x), as x approaches a, is infinity”
or “f (x) becomes infinite as approaches a”
or “f (x) increases without bound as approaches a”
25
Infinite Limits
This definition is illustrated graphically in Figure 12.
Figure 12
26
Infinite Limits
A similar sort of limit, for functions that become large
negative as x gets close to a, is defined in Definition 5 and
is illustrated in Figure 13.
Figure 13
27
Infinite Limits
The symbol limxa f (x) = –  can be read as “the limit of

f (x), as x approaches a, is negative infinity” or “f (x)
decreases without bound as x approaches a.” As an
example we have
28
Infinite Limits
Similar definitions can be given for the one-sided infinite
limits
remembering that “x  a–” means that we consider only

values of x that are less than a, and similarly “x  a+”
means that we consider only x > a.
29
Infinite Limits
Illustrations of these four cases are given in Figure 14.
Figure 14 30
Infinite Limits
31
Example 10
Find the vertical asymptotes of f (x) = tan x.
Solution:
Because
there are potential vertical asymptotes where cos x = 0.

In fact, since cos x  0+ as x  ( /2)– and cos x  0– as
x  ( /2)+, whereas sin x is positive when x is near  /2, we
have
32
This shows that the line x =  /2 is a vertical asymptote.

Similar reasoning shows that the lines x = (2n + 1) /2,
where n is an integer, are all vertical asymptotes of
f (x) = tan x.
The graph in Figure 16 confirms this.
y = tan x
Figure 16 33

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2 Limits and Derivatives

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Let’s investigate the behavior of the function f defined by

We express this by saying “the limit of the function

The notation for this is

This says that the values of f (x) approach L as x

which is usually read “f (x) approaches L as x approaches

Notice the phrase “but x  a” in the definition of limit. This

But in each case, regardless of what happens at a, it is true

Guess the value of

The tables below give values of f (x) (correct to six decimal

On the basis of the values in the tables, we make the

H (t) approaches 0 as t approaches 0 from the left and H (t)

We indicate this situation symbolically by writing

Likewise, “t  0+” indicates that we consider only values of

Notice that Definition 2 differs from Definition 1 only in that

Thus the symbol “x  a+” means that we consider only

The graph also shows that

Despite this fact, notice that g(5)  2.

Another notation for limxa f (x) =  is

“the limit of f (x), as x approaches a, is infinity”

or “f (x) becomes infinite as approaches a”

or “f (x) increases without bound as approaches a”

The symbol limxa f (x) = –  can be read as “the limit of

remembering that “x  a–” means that we consider only

there are potential vertical asymptotes where cos x = 0.

This shows that the line x =  /2 is a vertical asymptote.

The graph in Figure 16 confirms this.

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