Wednesday, April 8

Today:
In Lecture: More 2.2/2.3 (Limits)
Office hours today: 2:00-3:00 in my office, PDL C-326
To Do:
Read Textbook 2.3-2.5
WORK ON Hwk03 & Hwk04 (2.2 & 2.3), closing today & Fri
Quiz tomorrow, 20 minutes, based on the first 3 homeworks
(tangents to circles, graphical limits, parametric equations)
Have Questions?
Ask in quiz section tomorrow
Post a discussion/question in Canvas
Come to Office Hours
Math Study Center (in CMU B-014)

Every good calculus student must know her limits!

*rimshot*

Some important limits to know, in shorthand notation:

Meaning: the limit of a quotient
Meaning: as

, as the dominator

gets smaller but remains positive, the reciprocal values

get: ______________________________________
Meaning: as

gets smaller but remains negative, the reciprocal values

get: ______________________________________

Meaning: as

gets larger and larger, the reciprocal values

get __________________

A good example that includes all three situations is the function

Other examples:

(note: here the sign does not matter)

is _____

LIMIT LAWS (2.3, see textbook):

Let be a constant

Assume

and

both exist and are finite. Then the following hold:

8) SUBSTITUTION LAW (consequence of all of the above):

8) SUBSTITUTION LAW (consequence of all of the above):

If

is an expression in

involving sums/powers/products/ratios which is defined at , then

General strategy for COMPUTING LIMITS:

(if time permits -- else we'll discuss this on Wednesday)

1) Always try substitution first.

If the limit is computable by substitution, we're done. Else try the steps below.
2) If dividing a non-zero number by 0, check the sign of the denominator.
Depending on the sign, we get either
,
or
if the sign of the denominator is different for the one sided limits, then the overall limit does not exist.
3) If we get an indeterminate expression, such as
etc:
use algebraic methods to simplify, factor/cancel terms, or rationalize,
until the limit can be determined.
4) Try the Squeeze Thm (after this)
(Later this term we'll add: 5) Use LHospital; explained in chapter 4.4)
Examples:

d) Determine the vertical asymptotes of the function:

The Sandwich (or Squeeze) Theorem (2.3)

IF:

for all values of x in an interval containing ,

AND:
THEN:

Ex 1: If

Ex 2: Compute

too

for all values of

near 1, evaluate