CHAPTER I

LIMITS & CONTINUITY

A Preview of Calculus
What Do You Think?
What things could be considered the greatest
achievements of the human mind?
It's the Greatest!
Consider that all these things emerged
because of technological advances
Those advances relied on CALCULUS !
Calculus has made it possible to:
◦ Build giant bridges
◦ Travel to the moon
◦ Predict patterns of population change
True or False?

False

False

False
The Genius of Calculus is Simple
It relies on only two ideas
◦ The Derivative
◦ The Integral
Both come from a common sense analysis of
motion
◦ Motion is change in position over time
◦ All you have to do is drop your pencil to see
it happen
What Is Calculus ?
It is the mathematics of change
It is the mathematics of
◦ tangent lines
◦ slopes
◦ areas
◦ volumes
It enables us to model real life situations
It is dynamic
◦ In contrast to algebra/precalc which is static
Contrasting Algebra & Calculus

Use f(x) to find the height of the curve at x = c

Find the limit of f(x) as x approaches c
Contrasting Algebra & Calculus

Find the instantaneous

average rate ofrate of change at t = c
change between
t = a and t = b
Contrasting Algebra & Calculus

Area of a rectangle Area between two curves

  
LESSON 1: The Limit of a Function:
Theorems and Examples

Lesson 1.1: The Limit of a Function

 Functions -
main building blocks of calculus.
A function f is a rule that assigns to each
element in a set A (the domain), one and
only one element in a set B (the range).
Set A is the domain (or set of inputs) of the
function f, and set B contains range (or set
of outputs).
 PIECE-WISE FUNCTION
A “piecewise function” defines the function in
pieces (or parts).
In the function below,
if x is less than or equal to zero,
f(x) = 2x - 1; otherwise, f(x) = x - 1.
2
 Domain of a Function
Some restrictions to domain:
1. Never divide by zero (0).
2. Never take the square root of a negative
number.
3. Practical problems may limit domain.
What is a limit?
 Limits
The word “limit” is used in everyday
conversation to describe the ultimate behavior
of something, as in the “limit of one’s
endurance” or the “limit of one’s patience.”
In mathematics, the word “limit” has a
similar but more precise meaning.
A Geometric Example
Look at a polygon inscribed in a circle

As the number of sides of the polygon

increases, the polygon is getting closer to
becoming a circle.
If we refer to the polygon as an n-gon,
where n is the number of sides we can make
some mathematical statements:
As n gets larger, the n-gon gets closer to
being a circle
As n approaches infinity, the n-gon
approaches the circle
The limit of the n-gon, as n goes to infinity is
the circle
 The symbolic statement is:

The n-gon never really gets to be the circle, but

it gets close - really, really close, and for all
practical purposes, it may as well be the circle.
That is what limits are all about!
 FYI
Archimedes used this method way before
calculus to find the area of a circle.
Numerical Example 1
Let’s look at a sequence whose nth term is
given by:
What will the sequence look like?
½ , 2/3, ¾, 5/6, ….99/100,
99999/100000…
 What is happening to the terms of the
sequence?
½ , 2/3, ¾, 5/6, ….99/100, 99999/100000…

Will they ever get to 1?

 Numerical Example 2
Let’s look at the sequence whose nth term is
given by

1, ½, 1/3, ¼, …..1/10000,
1/10000000000000……
As n is getting bigger, what are these terms
approaching?
 Graphical Example 1

As x gets really, really big, what is

happening to the height, f(x)?
As x gets really, really small, what is
happening to the height, f(x)?
Does the height, or f(x) ever
get to 0?
 Graphical Example 2

As x gets really, really close to 2, what is

happening to the height, f(x)?
An Informal Description
If f(x) becomes arbitrarily close to a single
number L as x approaches c from either side, the
limit for f(x) as x approaches c, is L. This limit
is written as

This can be read as

“The limit of f(x) as x approaches c is L”
 The Limit

Thus we have a left-sided limit:

And a right-sided limit:

And in order for a limit to exist, the limit from

the left and the limit from the right must exist and
be equal.
32
 Sir Isaac Newton developed the concept
known as limits, that is used today in
developing the concept of calculus while
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz introduced the
method called infinitesimals.
Limits are the backbone of calculus, and
Calculus is called the Mathematics of
Change.
 LOOKING AT THE TABLE OF VALUES

Example 1. To illustrate, let us consider

Solution :
We make two tables, as shown below, one
with x approaching 3 from the left, and the
other with x approaching 3 from the right.
 For example, the numbers 2.9, 2.99, 2.999, ...
approach 3 from the left, which we denote by
x→3 –, and the numbers 3.1, 3.01, 3.001, ...
approach 3 from the right, denoted by x→3 +.
Such limits are called one-sided limits.
 LOOKING AT THE GRAPH OF

Graph of f(x) = 2x + 4

10
On this area, it is evident that as
the x-values approach 3 from
the left and from the right, the
y-values approach 10 from the
left and from the right as well.
3

39
Example 2. Investigate through a table of values 𝑥lim
→4
𝑓 ( 𝑥)
if x + 1 if x < 4
(x - 4)2 +3 if x ≥ 4
lim (𝑥 +1)
−
lim ¿
+¿
𝑥→4 𝑥→4 ¿¿¿
x x+1 x (x - 4)2 + 3
3.7 4.7 4.3 3.09
3.85 4.85 4.1 3.01
3.995 4.995 4.001 3.000001
4.00001 3.0000000001
3.99999 4.99999

The ≠𝑥lim (𝑥 +1) lim ¿

− +¿
→4 𝑥 → 4 ¿¿¿
then DNE.lim 𝑓 ( 𝑥)
𝑥→4
 The Limit of a Function at c
versus the Value of the Function at c
The limit of a function lim 𝑓 ( 𝑥)is not the same as evaluating a
𝑥→𝑐
function 𝒇(𝒄) because they are different in terms of concept. The limit of
a function gets its value by providing inputs that approaches the
particular number while evaluating a function is more like direct
substitution process.
lim 𝑓 ( 𝑥)
Difference between 𝒇(𝒄) to 𝑥→𝑐

the height of the curve at x = c ; limit of f(x) as x approaches c

f(x) = f(c)
 Lesson 1.2: Illustration of Limit Theorems
Limit Theorems/Rules
1. The limit of a constant is itself. If k is any constant, then
lim 𝑘=¿ . 𝑘¿
𝑥→𝑐
lim 7=¿ 7 ¿ lim 5=¿ 5 ¿
Ex. , 𝑥→2
𝑥 → −1
2. The limit of x as x approaches c is equal to c. 𝑥lim
→𝑐
𝑥=¿ 𝑐 ¿
Ex. lim 𝑥=¿,0.5 ¿ lim 𝑥=¿ 3 ¿
𝑥 → 0.5 𝑥→3 𝑛 𝑛
3. The limit of xn as x approaches c is equal to cn. lim 𝑥 𝑥
→𝑐
¿𝑐
Ex. lim 𝑥 4 ¿ 2,4= 16 lim 𝑥2 ¿ 32 =9
𝑥→2 𝑥→3
 For the remaining theorems, we will assume that the limits
of f and g both exist as x approaches c and that they are L
and M, respectively. In other words, lim 𝑓 (𝑥)=¿ 𝐿 ¿
𝑥→𝑐
and 𝑥lim→𝑐
𝑔(𝑥)=¿. 𝑀 ¿
4. The Constant Multiple Theorem: 𝑥lim →𝑐
𝑘· 𝑓 (𝑥)=¿ 𝑘 · 𝐿 ¿
Ex. If lim
𝑥→3
𝑥=¿ 3then¿ lim 4 𝑥=4 ( 3 ) =12
𝑥→3
Example for Theorems 5-10: 𝑥lim →𝑐
𝑓 (𝑥)=¿ 4 ¿
and lim 𝑔(𝑥)=¿ −5 ¿
𝑥→𝑐

5. The Addition Theorem:+M

Ex . 𝑥lim ( 𝑓 ( 𝑥 ) +𝑔 ( 𝑥 ))=¿ 4 + ( −5 )=−1 ¿
→𝑐
6. The Subtraction Theorem: 𝑥lim ( 𝑓 ( 𝑥 ) −𝑔 ( 𝑥 ))=¿ 𝐿− 𝑀 ¿
→𝑐
Ex. 𝑥lim ( 𝑓 ( 𝑥 ) −𝑔 ( 𝑥 ))=¿ 4 − ( −5 )=9 ¿
→𝑐
7. The Multiplication Theorem: M
lim
Ex. 𝑥 → 𝑐 ( 𝑓 ( 𝑥 ) · 𝑔 ( 𝑥 ) ) =¿ 4 ( −5 ) =− 20 ¿
8. The Division Theorem: M ; M≠0
4
Ex.lim ( 𝑓 ( 𝑥 ) / 𝑔 ( 𝑥 ) )=¿ − 5 ¿
𝑥→𝑐 𝑛 𝑛
9. The Power Theorem: lim 𝑓 ( 𝑥) ¿ 𝐿
3 3 𝑥→𝑐
lim
Ex. 𝑥 → 𝑐 𝑓 ( 𝑥) ¿ 4
10. The Radical/Root Theorem: lim √ 𝑓 (𝑥 )=¿ √ 𝐿 ¿
𝑛 𝑛

𝑥→𝑐
where 0 if n is even, and if n is odd.
Ex. lim √ 𝑓 (𝑥 )=¿ √ 4=2 ¿
𝑥→𝑐
lim √ 𝑔( 𝑥)=√ −5 𝐷𝑁𝐸
𝑥→𝑐