Chapter 13 - A Preview of Calculus: The Limit, Derivative, and Integral of a Function - Section 13.2 Algebra Techniques for Finding Limits - 13.2 Assess Your Understanding - Page 903: 20

$2$

We know that for a polynomial function, $\lim\limits_{x \to a} k(x)=k(a)$, where $a$ is a constant. Thus, we have: $\lim\limits_{x \to -1} (8x^5-7x^3+8x^2+x-4)=8(-1)^5-7(-1)^3+8(-1)^2+(-1)-4 \\=-8+7+8-1-4 \\=-8+7+3 \\=2$