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Section 4.5L’Hôpital’s Rule and IndeterminateForms
(1) Refresher: Determinate and Indeterminate Forms(2) L’Hôpital’s Rule(3) Comparing Growth of Functions
The Form of a Limit
The form of a limit limx→c
� is the expression resulting from substitutingx = c into �.
The form of a limit is not the same as its value!It is a tool for inspecting the limit.
limx→0
xarctan(x) : form 00 limx→∞(1+x)
1x : form ∞0
limx→0
cos(x)1x : form 1∞ lim
x→0+ ln(x)sin(x) : form 0 ·∞
Indeterminate Forms are called indeterminate because theyrepresent limits which may or may not exist and may be equal to anyvalue. The form itself does not indicate the value of the limit. There are7 indeterminate forms.
00
±∞∞ ±0 ·∞
1∞ 00 ∞0
∞−∞
Indeterminate Forms
Limits of form00:
limx→0
sin(x)
x= 1 lim
x→0
sin2(x)
x= 0 lim
x→0
sin(x)
x2 DNE
Limits of form∞∞ :
limx→∞
x +1x
= 1 limx→∞
ln(x)
x= 0 lim
x→∞ex
x=∞
These two indeterminate forms are like “tugs-of-war” between thenumerator and denominator. Which of the two grows faster?
L’Hôpital’s Rule
L’Hôpital’s RuleIf f and g are differentiable near x = a and either
(i) limx→a
f (x)= 0 and limx→a
g(x)= 0, or
(ii) limx→a
f (x)=±∞ and limx→a
g(x)=±∞,
then
limx→a
f (x)
g(x)= lim
x→a
f ′(x)g ′(x)
.
The rule applies equally for one-sided limits.
Example 1:
These limits are of form 0/0. The steps marked LHR= use L’Hôpital’s Rule.
(a) limx→0
sin(x)
xLHR= lim
x→0
ddx (sin(x))
ddx (x)
= limx→0
cos(x)
1= cos(0) = 1
(b) limx→0
ln(x2+1)x
LHR= limx→0
2xx2+11
= 0
(c) limx→2
x4+2x −20x3−8
LHR= limx→2
4x3+23x2 = 17
6
Example 2:
These limits are of form ∞∞ . The steps marked LHR= use L’Hôpital’s Rule.
(a) limx→∞
3x −76x +5
LHR= limx→∞
ddx (3x −7)ddx (6x +5)
= limx→∞
36
= 12
(b) limx→∞
ln(x)
xLHR= lim
x→∞
ddx (ln(x))
ddx (x)
= limx→∞
1/x1
= 0
(c) limx→0+
ln(x)
ln(sin(x))LHR= lim
x→0+
1x
cos(x)sin(x)
= limx→0+
(sin(x)
x
)(1
cos(x)
)= 1
Example 3:Sometimes it is necessary to perform L’Hôpital’s Rule multiple times.
(a) limx→0
ex −x −1cos(x)−1
(0/0) = limx→0
ex −1−sin(x)
(0/0)
= limx→0
ex
−cos(x)(determinate) = −1.
(b) limx→∞
−3x3−20x2
2x3+x +7(∞/∞) = lim
x→∞−9x2−40x6x2+1
(∞/∞)
= limx→∞
−18x −4012x
(∞/∞)
= limx→∞
−1812
= −32
.
L’Hôpital’s Rule: Warnings
Warning #1:L’Hôpital’s Rule only applies to the indeterminate forms 0/0 and ∞/∞.Before applying L’Hôpital’s Rule to a limit, verify that it is of one ofthose two forms.
Warning #2:Don’t confuse L’Hôpital’s Rule with the Quotient Rule!They have completely different uses.
L’Hôpital’s Rule is for evaluating limits.The Quotient Rule is for evaluating derivatives.
The Form ∞−∞To evaluate limits with the form ∞−∞, use algebra to rewrite theexpression as a quotient, often in 0/0 or ∞/∞ form. Often this meansfinding a common denominator.
Example 4: To evaluate limx→0+
(1x−csc(x)
), which has the form ∞−∞,
rewrite it:
1x−csc(x) = 1
x− 1sin(x)
= sin(x)−x
x sin(x)
This is an 0/0 form, so we can apply L’Hôpital’s Rule:
limx→0+
sin(x)−x
x sin(x)LHR= lim
x→0+cos(x)−1
x cos(x)+ sin(x)(0/0)
LHR= limx→0+
−sin(x)
−x sin(x)+2cos(x)= 0
The Form 0 ·∞
Limits with the form 0 ·∞ can easily be converted to 0/0 or ∞/∞ form.
If limx→a f (x)= 0 and limx→a g(x)=∞, then
limx→a
f (x)g(x)︸ ︷︷ ︸0·∞ form
= limx→a
f (x)(1
g(x)
)︸ ︷︷ ︸0/0 form
= limx→a
g(x)(1
f (x)
)︸ ︷︷ ︸∞/∞ form
Examples (5):
(a) limx→0+ x ln(x) = lim
x→0+ln(x)
1x
LHR= limx→0+
1x
− 1x2
= 0
(b) limx→ π
2−
(x − π
2
)tan(x)= lim
x→ π2−x − π
2cot(x)
LHR= limx→ π
2−
1−csc2(x)
= −1
Indeterminate Forms Involving Exponents
For limits of the forms 1∞, 00, or ∞0, the key step is to rewrite
limx→c
■ = limx→c
eln(■) = limx→c
exp(ln(■)) = exp(limx→c
ln(■))
.
The second equality is valid by the Limit Laws (see §2.4) because ex
is continuous everywhere.The “exp” notation avoids humongous expressions in superscript.
This technique changes the limit into one of form 0 ·∞:
1∞ → e ln|1∞| → e∞·ln(1) ↘
00 → e ln∣∣00∣∣ → e0·ln(0) → e0·∞
∞0 → e ln∣∣∞0∣∣ → e0·ln(∞) ↗
Indeterminate Forms Involving Exponents
Example 6: limx→0+ x
x has the indeterminate form 00.
limx→0+ x
x = exp
(limx→0+ ln(x
x )
)= exp
(limx→0+ x ln(x)
)(0 ·∞)
= exp
(limx→0+
ln(x)1x
)(∞/∞)
LHR= exp
(limx→0+
1/x−1/x2
)= exp
(limx→0+(−x)
)
= exp(0)= 1.
Indeterminate Forms Involving Exponents
Example 7: limx→0+(− ln(x))x has the indeterminate form ∞0.
limx→0+(− ln(x))x = exp
[limx→0+ ln((− ln(x))x )
]= exp
[limx→0+ x ln(− ln(x))
]= exp
[limx→0+
ln(− ln(x))
1/x
](∞/∞)
LHR= exp
limx→0+
1− ln(x) · −1
x
−1x2
= exp
[limx→0+
−xln(x)
]
= exp(0)= 1.
Indeterminate Forms Involving Exponents
Example 8: Let a be any real number, so that limx→0
(1+ax)1/x has the
indeterminate form 1∞.
limx→0
(1+ax)1/x = exp
[limx→0+ ln
((1+ax)1/x
)]= exp
[limx→0+
ln(1+ax)
x
](0/0)
LHR= exp
[limx→0+
a1+ax1
]= ea.
In fact, this calculation can be used to define the number e:
e = limx→0
(1+x)1/x .
Comparing Growth Of Functions
We say that f grows faster than g if
(i) limx→∞
f (x)
g(x)=∞, or equivalently
(ii) limx→∞
g(x)
f (x)= 0.
(Notation: g ¿ f .)
x¿ x2
x
y
2 4 6 8
10
20
30
40
y = x2y = x
Some important cases (that can all be checked using L’Hôpital’s Rule):
(a) xn ¿ ex for all n.(b) In fact, xn ¿ ax for all n and all a> 1.(c) loga(x)¿ xn for all n and all a> 0.
Indeterminate Forms Involving TrigonometricFunctions
Example 9: limx→0tan(x)sin(5x)
x sin(7x)has the indeterminate form
00.
limx→0
tan(x)sin(5x)x sin(7x)
= limx→0
[(1
cos(x)
)(sin(x)
x
)(sin(5x)sin(7x)
)]Limit of each fraction exists.
=���
���*
1
limx→0
(1
cos(x)
)limx→0
(sin(x)
x
)limx→0
(sin(5x)sin(7x)
)LHR= lim
x→0
(cos(x)
1
)limx→0
(5cos(5x)7cos(7x)
)= 57