Calculus 1

Section 1.1

Introduction to Limits
The Limit of a Function

You may be very comfortable with evaluating a function at a certain point, but sometimes it is
what happens around a point that we are interested in.

A limit is the value that a function approaches as the dependent variable gets infinitely close
to a certain value. The notation for a limit of a function looks like:
lim f (x)
xn

and is read "the limit of f (x) as x approaches n" or "the limit as x approaches n of f (x). Limits can
be taken for functions and sequences, and the value x approaches can be finite or infinite, but why
would one care about the value of f (x) around a certain point?

Sometimes it is impossible to evaluate f (x) at a certain value because f (x) may be undefined
for that value. Other times, as is the case with , it is just impossible to evaluate f (x) at a desired
range but we wish to know what happens to f (x) as it approaches that range. Other times, f (x) may
be defined at the point x approaches but we want to know if the limit of a function at a value is equal
to the function evaluated at that value. Sometimes the two values are not the same (this can happen
often with piecewise functions). Clearly, there are a lot of applications of limits, but how are they
evaluated? This section will give an introduction to techniques for evaluating limits.

For a visual intuition of the difference between f (a) and limxa f (x), for example, consider the
graph below.

f(x)

b lim
f(x)=c
x a
x
a

f(a)=b

Notice that around x = a, the function approaches c but f (a) 6= c.

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The Delta-Epsilon Definition of a Limit

In addition to an intuitive, written definition of a limit, there exists a mathematical definition

that can be used to evaluate a limit if a graph is not given or clearly labeled.

Consider a function f (x) defined around the value x = x0 . Then, if there is a value L such that

lim f (x) = L
xx0

it must be the case that for any given positive real number , there exists another positive real number
such that when condition 1 below is true, condition 2 below will also be true.

1. 0 < |x x0 | <
2. |f (x) L| < 

Because the first inequality is two-sided, we dont consider when x = x0 because then |xx0 | = 0.

 is the Greek letter "epsilon" and is often used to represent small positive values. is the Greek
letter "delta" and is often used to show changes or differences in values.

This definition may seem cryptic and impossible to calculate with, but an important thing to
realize is that the values of and  are not important. We simply want to find an expression for in
terms of , meaning that any value of  has an associated . The expression will depend on the values
of L and x0 , and on what f (x) is.

Generally, this definition of a limit is used to verify the value of a limit, not to evaluate one.
For example, the equation is a correct evaluation of a limit. The proof below, however, verifies the
evaluation.
lim 2x = 10
x5

Notice that L = 10 and x0 = 5. Then, for every  > 0 we want to find a such that if
0 < |x 5| < , |2x 10| < . Note that |x 5| = | 12 (2x 10)| = 21 |2x 10| < . Thus, let = 2 .
Then, |2x 10| < 2 = 2 2 = . Thus, weve shown that for a given  > 0, if 0 < |x 5| < ,
|2x 10| < . Thus, the limit evaluation is true.

It will be useful to verify limits in this way later on when evaluating limits is not intuitive; if this
proof works for a limit equation, the equation is necessarily true.

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Examples

Here are a few examples to test the concepts provided in this section. Answers can be found on
the following pages.

1. Why is equation below not necessarily true for some unknown r and f (y)?

lim f (y) = f (r)

yr

2. Verify the limit evaluation below using the delta epsilon definition of a limit.
x
lim =1
x3 3

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Solutions

These are the solutions to the questions on the previous page

1. The function f (y) may be a piecewise function with a separate value at y = r than what f (y)
approaches near y = r. Additionally, it may be undefined at y = r yet around the point the
function may approach a value. In either circumstance, it would be the case that the equation
is false.

2. Let f (x) = x3 , x0 = 3, and L = 1. Then, we want to find a for any  > 0 such that if
0 < |x 3| < , | x3 1| < . Note that |x 3| = |3( x3 1)| = 3| x3 1|. Then, since |x 3| < ,
let = 3. Then, | x3 1| < 3 = 3
3 = . Thus, weve showed that given the expression = 3, if
0 < |x 3| < , | x3 1| < . Thus, the limit evaluation is true.