More examples on LHospitals Rule

Math 142, Section 01, Spring 2009

This note provides a number of further examples illustrating LHospitals rule. Recall there are two

versions of LHospitals rule, one for 00 and one for

forms.
0
LHospital for 0 : If f (x) and g(x) are differentiable near x = a and
lim f (x) = 0 = lim g(x)

xa

xa

then

f (x)
f 0 (x)
= lim 0
.
xa g(x)
xa g (x)

LHospital for
: If f (x) and g(x) are differentiable near x = a and
lim

lim f (x) = ,

xa

lim g(x) =

xa

then

f 0 (x)
f (x)
= lim 0
.
xa g (x)
xa g(x)
are not the only indeterminate forms. Other common indeterminate forms include
lim

Now,

0
0

and

1 ,

0 ,

Indeterminate forms of the types 00 and

can be dealt with directly using LHospitals Rule. With the
other indeterminate forms the strategy is to modify the given form to turn it into either a 00 or
form.
0

We begin with a couple examples of the 0 and forms.

Example 1: Find
x sin x
.
x0
x3
form so LHospitals rule applies. Thus,
lim

Solution: This is a

0
0

1 cos x
x sin x
= lim
.
x0
x3
3x2
so we apply LHospitals rule again:
lim

x0

This is again

0
0

x sin x
1 cos x
sin x
= lim
= lim
.
3
2
x0
x0
x0 6x
x
3x
Once again, this is 00 . Lets try LHospital again:
lim

sin x
cos x
cos 0
1
= lim
=
= .
x0 6x
x0 6
6
6
lim

Thus, the limit

lim

x0

x sin x
1
= .
x3
6

Example 2: Please note that LHospitals Rule has a hypothesis, namely that
lim f (x) = 0 = lim g(x).

xa

xa

If this condition is not satisfied, we cannot use LHospitals Rule to compute the limit of

f (x)
g(x) .

For example,

sin x
sin 0
=
= 0.
x0 1 + 2x
1+20
lim

But

(sin x)0
cos x
1
= lim
= .
0
x0 (1 + 2x)
x0 2
2
lim

So in this case

(sin x)0
sin x
6= lim
.
x0 (1 + 2x)0
x0 1 + 2x
lim

Example 3: Find
e2x + x2
.
x ex + 4x
form so we can apply LHospitals rule.
lim

Solution: This is an

ex + 2x
ex + x2
=
lim
.
x ex + 4
x ex + 4x
so applying LHospitals rule again:
lim

This is again

ex + 2x
ex + 2
=
lim
.
x ex + 4
x
ex
Again this is
, so we might try LHospital again.
lim

ex + 2
ex
=
lim
.
x
x ex
ex
but LHospitals Rule wont help us any more. However, doing some algebra,
lim

This is again

ex
= lim 1 = 1.
x ex
x
The last example shows that sometimes it is necessary to use other methods for finding limits in conjuction with LHosptials rule.
lim

Try this next example on your own:

Example 4: Find

9x + 1
lim
.
x
x+1

The form:
Example 5: Find



1
1
lim

ln x
x1+ x 1
Solution: This is an form. Combining fractions we may be able to turn this into a
then apply LHospitals Rule. So,

0
0

or

1
1
ln x (x 1)
ln x x + 1

=
=
.
x 1 ln x
(x 1) ln x
(x 1) ln x
As x 1+ , the numerator and denominator each go to 0. So we may apply LHospitals Rule:

form,


lim

x1+

= lim

x1+

We are left with another

again.
lim

x1+

1
1

x 1 ln x

1
x

1)
ln x + (x 1)
0
0

1
x

(ln x x + 1)0
((x 1) ln x)0


= lim

x1+

= lim

x1+

1
x

1)
ln x + 1

= lim

1
x

x1+

1x
.
x ln x + x 1

form, so we do some algebra to simplify before applying LHospitals Rule

1
1x
1
1
= lim
=
=
.
1
x ln x + x 1 x1+ ln x + x x + 1
ln 1 + 1 + 1
2

So


lim

x1+

1
1

x 1 ln x


=

1
.
2

As these examples show, it is not uncommon to have to apply LHospitals rule a couple of times in a
row. However, example 4 suggests that we shouldnt just keep applying LHospitals Rule again and again
and hope that something good comes out of it.
The remaining indeterminate forms, 1 , 00 , 0 forms are all handled in a similar way.
Example 5: Find
1 n
) .
n
n
Solution: As n , the base tends towards 1. Its tempting to guess that the limit should be 1 since
the base tends towards 1, and so we get 1n , but 1n = 1 for every n, and so limn 1n = 1. The problem
is that we arent taking 1 to larger and large powers, we are taking bases that are just slightly larger than
1 to higher and higher powers.
These power forms involve a trick. Namely, were going to use logarithms to turn the powers into
products. Let y = limn (1 + n1 )n . Now,
lim (1 +

ln y = ln ( lim (1 +
n

1 n
) )
n

1 n
1
) ) = lim n ln (1 + ).
n
n
n
form, but ln y gives rise to an 0 form. Furthermore, we can turn this into
= lim ln ((1 +
n

Now, y gave rise to a 1

a form by rewriting as
0
0

n ln (1 +
(You could just as easily have turned it into

ln (1 + n1 )
1
)=
.
1
n
n

by writing

n ln (1 +
There is nothing wrong with this, but here the
Now, we want

0
0

lim

1
)=
n

n
1
1
ln (1+ n
)

form while be a bit easier to handle.)

ln (1 + n1 )
1
n

We could apply LHospitals rule at this point. However, we can simplify the upcoming derivative calculations if we make a judiciuous change of variables. We let x = n1 . Now letting n is the same as letting
x 0+ . So
ln (1 + n1 )
ln (1 + x)
lim
= lim
.
1
n
x
x0+
n
Using LHospitals Rule,
ln (1 + x)
= lim
lim
+
x
x0+
x0

1
(1+x)

lim

x0+

1
1
=
= 1.
(1 + x)
1+0

Okay, done now, right? Not exactly. What we have just shown is
1
lim ln (1 + )n = 1,
n
n
but we want the limit without the natural logarithm on it. But
1
1
1 = lim ln (1 + )n = ln ( lim (1 + )n ).
n
n
n
n
(We can interchange limits and natural logarithms because the natural logarithm is a continuous function.)
To get rid of the natural logarithm, exponentiate.
1 n
1
e1 = eln (limn (1+ n ) ) = lim (1 + )n
n
n
Thus, we see
1
lim (1 + )n = e.
n
n
Try this next one on your own. A full solution appears at the end of these notes, but try doing it by
following some of the steps from the previous example.
Example 6: Find
lim xx .
x0+

Example 4 Solution We have to be clever or else we get stuck in a loop. If we apply LHospitals rule
without being clever, we get

1
(9x + 1)1/2 9
9x + 1
= lim 2 1
.
lim
1/2
x
x
x+1
2 (x + 1)
Simplifying, we get
9(x + 1)1/2
,
x (9x + 1)1/2
form. Apply LHospitals rule again,
= lim

another

9 12 (x + 1)1/2
9(x + 1)1/2
=
lim
.
x (9x + 1)1/2
x 1 (9x + 1)1/2 9
2
lim

Simplifying, this becomes

(9x + 1)1/2
,
x (x + 1)1/2

= lim

another
. Its not such a great idea to keep applying LHospitals rule over and over again, because this
last limit got us back to where we started.
A better way to proceed here is to interchange the entire square root and the limit, which we can do
since the square root function is continuous. So
r

9x + 1
9x + 1
=
lim
lim
.
x x + 1
x
x+1
Now,
9x + 1
= 9,
lim
x x + 1
which can be seen either using LHospitals Rule or other methods for computing limits. So

9x + 1
lim
= 9 = 3.
x
x+1

Example 6 Solution Interchanging the limit and the logarithm,

ln ( lim xx ) = lim ln xx = lim x ln x.
x0+

This is a 0 form, so we rewrite it to get an

x0+

form:

x ln x =

x0+

ln x
1
x

Using LHospitals Rule we get

lim x ln x = lim

x0+

x0+

ln x
1
x

lim

x0+

1
x
1
x2

Doing some algebra, this last limit rearranges to

x2
= lim x = 0.
x0
x0+ x
Recall that this is the natural logarithm of the limit we are interested in:
lim

ln ( lim xx ) = 0
x0+

so
lim xx = e0 = 1.

x0+