Limits and Continuity

Department of Mathematics
Visayas State University

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Learning Outcomes

Compare calculus with precalculus.

Find limits graphically and numerically.
Evaluate limits analytically.
Determine the continuity of a function at a point and on an open interval.
Determine one-sided limits.
Determine infinite limits.
Find vertical asymptotes to the graph of a function.

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Function: A Recall

Given the sets X and Y of any collection of objects.

1 Define a relation between X and Y as a set of ordered pairs, each of the
form (x, y), where x belongs to the set X and y belongs to the set Y .
2 A function from X to Y is a relation between X and Y having the
property that any two ordered pairs with the same x - value also have the
same y - value.
1 The variable x is called the independent variable.
2 The variable y is called the dependent variable.

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Function

Definition (Real-valued Function of a Real Variable)

Let X and Y be sets of real numbers. A real-valued function f of a real
variable x from X to Y is a correspondence that assigns to each number x in X
exactly one number y in Y .

The domain of f is the set X.

y is the image of x under f and is denoted by f (x) called the value of f
at x.
The set Y is called the codomain of f .
The range of f is a subset of Y .

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Evaluation of Functions

Define a function f explicitly as

f (x) = 3x2 − 4.

Evaluate each expression.

1 f (1)
2 f (b + 1)
f (x + ∆x) − f (x)
3 , ∆x ̸= 0
∆x

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Lesson 1 The Limit of a Function

Learning Outcome
1 Estimate a limit using a numerical or graphical approach.
2 Learn different ways that a limit can fail to exist.
3 Study and use formal definition of limit.

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What is Calculus?

Calculus is the mathematics of change.

velocity
acceleration
tangent line
slope
area
volume
arc length
centroid
work
force
pressure

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What is Calculus?
Precalculus Mathematics Calculus
analyze the motion of an object analyze the velocity of an accelerating
moving constant velocity object
identify the slope of a line identify the slope of a curve at any
given point of the curve
find the area of a region enclosed determine the area of a region
by a rectangle bounded by several curves
Table: Fundamental difference between precalculus mathematics and calculus

The development of Calculus involves the following three stages:

1 Precalculus mathematics - concepts were introduce with static

characteristic
2 Limit process

3 Calculus - dynamism was introduced to the concepts in precalculus

mathematics
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What is Calculus?

Without Calculus With Calculus

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What is Calculus?

Without Calculus With Calculus

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The Tangent Line Problem
Given a function f and a point P on the graph of f . If a tangent line to the
graph of f exists at the point P, find the equation of this tangent line.
Hint:
Since a line can be determined by a point and its slope, then is the same as
finding the slope of the tangent line. Let P (c, f (c)) be the point of tangency
on the graph of f . Choose a point Q, distinct from P, on the graph of f and let
it be represented by (c + ∆x, f (c + ∆x)). It follows that the slope of the secant
line PQ is given by
f (c + ∆x) − f (c) f (c + ∆x) − f (c)
mPQ = =
(c + ∆x) − c ∆x

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The Area Problem

Consider the region bounded by the graph of the function y = f (x), the x -
axis, and the vertical lines x = a and x = b. Find the measure of the area of the
bounded region.
Hint:
The measure of the area of this bounded region can be approximated using the
area of several rectangles.

This approximation gets relatively better as the number of rectangles increases.

Thus, this problem would then be similar to finding the infinite sum of the mea-
sures of the areas of rectangles as the number of rectangles increases without
bound.
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Finding Limits Graphically and Numerically
An Introduction to Limits
Sketch the graph of the function

x3 − 1
f (x) = , x ̸= 1.
x−1
Solution:
1 2 3
 
2
Observe that for x ̸= 1, f (x) = x + x + 1 = x + + . It resembles a
2  4 
1 3
parabola that opens upward with vertex at the point − , , a y - inter-
2 4
cept of 1, and has no x - intercept. However, f (1) is not defined.
x approaches 1 from the left x approaches 1 from the right
x 0.5 0.75 0.9 0.99 1 1.01 1.1 1.25 1.5
f (x) 1.75 2.31 2.71 2.97 ? 3.03 3.31 3.81 4.75
f (x) approaches 3 f (x) approaches 3

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Finding Limits Graphically and Numerically
Thus, the graph of f is the parabola described previously but has a gap at the
point (1, 3),

Though x cannot take the value of 1, x can move arbitrarily close to 1, which
results to f moving arbitrarily close to 3. In limit notation,
lim f (x) = 3.
x→1
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Finding Limits Graphically and Numerically

An Informal Definition of Limit

If f (x) becomes arbitrarily close to a single number L as x approaches c from
either side, the limit of f (x), as x approaches c, is L. In symbol,

lim f (x) = L.
x→c

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Finding Limits Graphically and Numerically

Estimating a Limit Numerically

x
Evaluate the function f (x) = √ at several points near x = 0 and use
x+1−1
the results to estimate the limit
x
lim √ .
x→0 x + 1 − 1

Answer:
x
lim √ =2
x→0 x + 1 − 1

Note
The existence or nonexistence of f (x) at x = c bears no impact on the
existence of the limit of f (x) as x approaches c.

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Finding Limits Graphically and Numerically

Finding a Limit
(
1 for x ̸= 2
Given the piece-wise function f (x) = . Find the limit of f as x
0 for x = 2
approaches 2.

Solution:
Since for any value of x other than 2, f (x) = 1, it follows that the limit of f as
x approaches 2 is 1.
Note
The fact that f (2) = 0 has no impact on the existence, much more on the
value, of the limit
( of f as x approaches to 2. In addition, the
1 for x ̸= 2
function f (x) = has the same limit as x approaches to 2 as the
2 for x = 2
previous function.

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Limits that Fail to Exist

Behavior that differs from the left and from the right
|x|
Show that the limit lim does not exist.
x→0 x

Solution:
Recall that the absolute value of x is defined as
(
x if x ≥ 0
|x| = .
− (x) if x < 0

It then follow that (

|x| 1 if x > 0
= .
x −1 if x < 0
|x| |x|
Thus, from the right of 0, = 1, and from the left of 0, = 1.
x x
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Limits that Fail to Exist

Behavior that differs from the left and from the right
|x|
Show that the limit lim does not exist.
x→0 x

Solution:
|x|
Because approaches a different number from the right of 0 than it ap-
x
proaches from the left of 0, the limit

|x|
lim does not exist.
x→0 x

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Limits that Fail to Exist

Unbounded Behavior
Discuss the existence of the limit
1
lim .
x→0 x2

Solution:
1
Let f (x) = 2 . Using a table of values,
x
x approaches 0 from the left x approaches 0 from the right
1 1 1 1 1 1
x − − − 0
10 100 1000 1000 100 10
f (x) 100 10, 000 1, 000, 000 ? 1, 000, 000 10, 000 100
f (x) is not approaching any real number f (x) is not approaching any real number

Since f (x) is not approaching any real number L as x approaches 0, the limit
1
lim does not exist.
x→0 x2
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Limits that Fail to Exist

Oscillating Behavior
Discuss the existence of the limit
 
1
lim sin .
x→0 x

Solution:  
1
Let f (x) = sin . Using a table of values to show the values of f (x) as x
x
approaches 0 from the right.
x approaches 0 from the right
2 2 2 2 2 2
x π 3π 5π 7π 9π 11π
f (x) 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1
f (x) is oscillates between −1 and 1

The limit does not exist since there always exist numbers x1 and x2 that are
arbitrarily close to 0 such that f (x1 ) = 1 and f (x2 ) = −1.
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Limits that Fail to Exist

Common Types of Behavior Associated with the Nonexistence of a

Limit
1 f (x) approaches a different real number from the right side of c than it
approaches from the left side.
2 f (x) increases or decreases without bounds as x approaches c.
3 f (x) oscillates between two fixed values as x approaches c.

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The Limit of a Function

Limit
Let f be a function that is defined on an open interval containing c, except
possibly as c, and L be a real number. The statement

lim f (x) = L
x→c

means that for each ε > 0 there exists a δ > 0 such that

| f (x) − L| < ε whenever 0 < |x − c| < δ .

Remark
The symbols ε (the lowercase Greek letter epsilon) and δ (the lowercase
Greek letter delta) represent a small (very small) positive number.

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The Limit of a Function

Finding a δ for a given ε

Given the limit
lim (2x − 5) = 1
x→3

find δ such that |(2x − 5) − 1| < 0.01 whenever 0 < |x − 3| < δ .

Solution:
To find a particular δ for ε = 0.01, begin with | f (x) − L| < ε. That is
|(2x − 5) − 1| = |2x − 6|
= |2 (x − 3)|
= 2 |x − 3|
Thus, |(2x − 5) − 1| < 0.01 is the same as 2 |x − 3| < 0.01. Equivalently,
0.01
|x − 3| < .
2
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The Limit of a Function

Finding a δ for a given ε

Given the limit
lim (2x − 5) = 1
x→3

find δ such that |(2x − 5) − 1| < 0.01 whenever 0 < |x − 3| < δ .

Solution:
Choosing δ = 12 (0.01) = 0.005. It follows that when 0 < |x − 3| < 0.005, then

|(2x − 5) − 1| = 2 |x − 3| < 2 (0.005) = 0.01

Note
Any number 0 < γ < 0.005 can be used in place of 0.005 as the required δ .

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The Limit of a Function

Using the ε − δ Definition of Limit

Use the ε − δ definition of limit to prove that

lim (3x − 2) = 4.
x→2

Solution:
Show that for each ε > 0, there exists δ > 0 such that |(3x − 2) − 4| < ε when-
ever 0 < |x − 2| < δ . Since the choice of δ is dependent of ε, establish first the
connection between | f (x) − L| and |x − c|. That is,

|(3x − 2) − 4| = |3x − 6| = 3 |x − 2| .

It follows that |(3x − 2) − 4| < ε is equivalent to

ε
3 |x − 2| < ε =⇒ |x − 2| < .
3
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The Limit of a Function

Using the ε − δ Definition of Limit

Use the ε − δ definition of limit to prove that

lim (3x − 2) = 4.
x→2

Solution:
ε
Thus, for any ε > 0, choose δ = . Hence, having 0 < |x − 2| < δ = ε3 , implies
3
that

|(3x − 2) − 4| = 3 |x − 2|
ε 
<3
3
=ε

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The Limit of a Function

Using the ε − δ Definition of Limit

Prove that lim x2 = 4 using the ε − δ definition of limit.
x→2

Solution:
Show that for each ε > 0, there exists δ > 0 such that x2 − 4 < ε whenever
0 < |x − 2| < δ .
x2 − 4 = |(x + 2) (x − 2)| = |x + 2| |x − 2| .
Show that x2 − 4 is small when x is close to 2. To do this find an upper bound
of the factor |x + 2|. That is, if x is close to 2, the factor |x − 2| is small and the
factor |x + 2| is close to 4. Since |x − 2| < 1 when x is close to 2, it follows that
δ should be at most 1. Solving this inequality gives
|x − 2| < 1 =⇒ −1 < x − 2 < 1
=⇒ 1 < x < 3
=⇒ 3 < x + 2 < 5
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The Limit of a Function

Using the ε − δ Definition of Limit

Prove that lim x2 = 4 using the ε − δ definition of limit.
x→2

Solution:
This means that when |x − 2| < 1, then 3 < |x + 2| < 5. Therefore,

x2 − 4 = |x − 2| |x + 2| < |x − 2| · 5 whenever |x − 2| < 1.

Since the goal is to show that x2 − 4 < ε, or equivalenlty

ε
|x − 2| · 5 < ε =⇒ |x − 2| < .
5
ε
Choosing δ to be the smaller between 1 and , then whenever |x − 2| < δ , it
5
follows that
ε
|x − 2| < and |x + 2| < 5.
5
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The Limit of a Function

Using the ε − δ Definition of Limit

Prove that lim x2 = 4 using the ε − δ definition of limit.
x→2

Solution:
So that
ε
x2 − 4 < · 5.
5
Therefore,
x2 − 4 < ε whenever 0 < |x − 2| < δ
ε
if δ is the smaller of the two numbers 1 and .
5

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Exercise Problems
1 Use a table of values to estimate the following limits.
x−4 √ √
6
a. lim 2 b. limx→0 x+6−x
x→4 x − 3x − 4
2 Use the graph of the given functions to find the limits (if they exist).

|x − 2|
a. lim f (x) b .lim
x→1 x→2 x−2
3 Find the limit L then use the δ − ε definition to prove that the limit is L.
b. lim x2 + 3x = 0


a. lim (2x + 5) = −1
x→−3 x→−3

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