University Calculus: Early Transcendentals (3rd Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321999584
ISBN 13: 978-0-32199-958-0

Chapter 2 - Section 2.2 - Limit of a Function and Limit Laws - Exercises - Page 66: 8

Answer

There is nothing which can be said about the existence of $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$.

Work Step by Step

$f(x)$ is defined for all $x$ in $[-1,1]$. Unfortunately, this is not enough to conclude anything about the existence of $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$. I will give examples of two cases where $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$ exists and $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$ does not exist. The graphs are shown below. 1) $f(x)=x$ - $f(x)$ is obviously defined for all $x$ in $[-1,1]$. - To the left of $x=0$, $f(x)\to0$ as $x\to0$. To the right of $x=0$, $f(x)\to0$ as $x\to0$. - Therefore, $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$ does exist and equals $0$. 2) $f(x)=x+1$ for $x\lt0$ and $f(x)=x+2$ for $x\ge0$ - $f(x)$ is obviously defined for all $x$ in $[-1,1]$. - To the left of $x=0$, $f(x)\to1$ as $x\to0$. To the right of $x=0$, $f(x)\to2$ as $x\to0$. - This means as $x\to0$, there is not a single value approached by $f(x)$; its value jumps at $x=0$. So $\lim_{x\to0}f(x)$ does not exist in this case.
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