Calculus 10th Edition

Published by Brooks Cole
ISBN 10: 1-28505-709-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-28505-709-5

Chapter 13 - Functions of Several Variables - 13.2 Exercises - Page 888: 52

Answer

The limit is $$\lim_{(x,y)\to(0,0)}(x^2+y^2)\ln(x^2+y^2) = 0.$$

Work Step by Step

We have $$\lim_{(x,y)\to(0,0)}(x^2+y^2)\ln(x^2+y^2).$$ Introduce the polar coordinates: $$\rho^2=x^2+y^2,\quad \tan\phi=\frac{y}{x},\\ \quad (x,y)\to0\Rightarrow \rho\to 0.$$ Now we have $$\lim_{(x,y)\to(0,0)}(x^2+y^2)\ln(x^2+y^2)=\lim_{\rho\to0}\rho^2\ln\rho^2 = \lim_{\rho\to0}\frac{\ln\rho^2}{\frac{1}{\rho^2}}.$$ The last transformation is performed so that we can apply L'Hopital's rule. Namely, when $\rho\to0$ then $\ln\rho^2 \to -\infty $ (because when the argumet of $\ln$ tends to zero its value tends to $-\infty$) and the denominator $1/\rho^2$ tends to $\infty$. Since both the numerator and the denominator tend to some kind of infinity the L'Hopital's rule is applicable: $$\lim_{\rho\to0}\frac{\ln\rho^2}{\frac{1}{\rho^2}} = \lim_{\rho\to0}\frac{(\ln\rho^2)'}{\left(\frac{1}{\rho^2}\right)'}=\lim_{\rho\to0}\frac{2\rho\frac{1}{\rho}}{-\frac{2}{\rho^3}}=\\\lim_{\rho\to0}-\rho^3 = 0.$$ where in the last step we used the method of substitution.
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