Where can I find proofs for the limit of a function as x approaches infinity?

In summary, the conversation discusses defining the limit of a function as x approaches positive infinity and as x approaches a point, and the use of the delta-epsilon proof in these cases. There is also mention of proving the sum, product, and quotient rules for limits, with a clarification that only the case of x approaching positive infinity needs to be addressed. The conversation ends with a discussion on the correct explanation of the delta-epsilon proof for x approaching a point.
  • #1
Petrus
702
0
Define the limit of a function as \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) and when \(\displaystyle x->a\)
(Only the case \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) need to be treated.
I am suposed to do the delta epsilone proof for \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) and for \(\displaystyle x->a\) but I think I missunderstand the question or do I?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
 
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  • #2
Petrus said:
Define the limit of a function as \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) and when \(\displaystyle x->a\)
(Only the case \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) need to be treated.
I am suposed to do the delta epsilone proof for \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) and for \(\displaystyle x->a\) but I think I missunderstand the question or do I?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)

I think they just want you to state the $\epsilon-\delta$ definitions for limits as $x\to\infty$ and $x\to a$; you can't really prove the statements since they're definitions after all. Unless they gave you a specific problem (i.e. show that $\lim\limits_{x\to \infty}x^2=\infty$), I don't see a need for you to prove anything.

I hope this helps!
 
  • #3
Chris L T521 said:
I think they just want you to state the $\epsilon-\delta$ definitions for limits as $x\to\infty$ and $x\to a$; you can't really prove the statements since they're definitions after all. Unless they gave you a specific problem (i.e. show that $\lim\limits_{x\to \infty}x^2=\infty$), I don't see a need for you to prove anything.

I hope this helps!
Thanks!
It Also say to proof sum,product and Quotient rule but end with (only the case \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) need to be treated) What do they mean with that..?
for \(\displaystyle x->a\) My explain:
let f be real valued function that is defined in a open interval around a point a \(\displaystyle a \in \mathbb{R}\) without the point a. Then we say limits for f then x goes against x is equal to L and write as
\(\displaystyle \lim_{x->a}=L\)
for each \(\displaystyle \epsilon > 0 \) there exist a \(\displaystyle \delta > 0 \) such that
\(\displaystyle 0<|x-a|<\delta => |f(x)-L|< \epsilon\)
notice that \(\displaystyle |x-a|\) is the distance between the point x and the point a and \(\displaystyle |f(x)-L|\) is the distance between the number f(x) and L is this correct explain?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
 
Last edited:
  • #4
Petrus said:
Thanks!
It Also say to proof sum,product and Quotient rule but end with (only the case \(\displaystyle x->+\infty\) need to be treated) What do they mean with that..?
for \(\displaystyle x->a\) My explain:
let f be real valued function that is defined in a open interval around a point a \(\displaystyle a \in \mathbb{R}\) without the point a. Then we say limits for f then x goes against x is equal to L and write as
\(\displaystyle \lim_{x->a}=L\)
for each \(\displaystyle \epsilon > 0 \) there exist a \(\displaystyle \delta > 0 \) such that
\(\displaystyle 0<|x-a|<\delta => |f(x)-L|< \epsilon\)
notice that \(\displaystyle |x-a|\) is the distance between the point x and the point a and \(\displaystyle |f(x)-L|\) is the distance between the number f(x) and L is this correct explain?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)

For starters, that's how I would define $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$. On the other hand, we have 3 cases to consider for infinite limits:

1. We have $\displaystyle \lim_{x\to a}f(x)=\pm\infty\iff \forall\,E>0,\,\exists\,\delta>0: 0<|x-a|<\delta\implies |f(x)|> E$.

2. We have $\displaystyle \lim_{x\to \pm\infty}f(x)=L \iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists\, D>0: |x|>D \implies |f(x)-L|<\epsilon$

3. We have $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to \pm\infty}f(x)=\pm\infty \iff \forall\, E>0,\,\exists\, D>0: |x|>D \implies |f(x)|>E$


With all that said, to me, it seems like you're supposed to use one of these definitions to prove:

a. The sum/difference rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)\pm g(x) = L\pm M$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to\infty$).

b. The product rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)g(x) = LM$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to \infty$).

c. The quotient rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M\neq 0$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}\frac{f(x)}{g(x)} = \frac{L}{M}$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to\infty$).
I'll show product rule in the case of $x\to \infty$. So, we know that
\[\lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)=L\iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\exists\,D_1>0: x>D_1\implies |f(x)-L|<\epsilon\]
and
\[\lim_{x\to\infty}g(x)=M\iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\exists\,D_2>0: x>D_2\implies |g(x)-M|<\epsilon\]
(we will come back to this part in a bit because we're going to need to use each of these guys twice.)

Ideally, we would like to see the product $(f(x)-L)(g(x)-M)$ appear in the $|f(x)g(x)-LM|$ term. To get it to appear, we note that $(f(x)-L)(g(x)-M)=f(x)g(x)-Mf(x)-Lg(x) + LM$ and thus

\[\begin{aligned}f(x)g(x)-LM &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + Mf(x) + Lg(x) - 2LM\\ &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + Mf(x)-LM + Lg(x) - LM\\ &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + M(f(x)-L) + L(g(x)-M)\end{aligned}\]

Therefore,

\[|f(x)g(x)-LM| \leq \color{red}{|f(x)-L|}\color{blue}{|g(x)-M|} + |M|\color{green}{|f(x)-L|} + |L|\color{purple}{|g(x)-M|}.\]

Now, we use the facts that $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to \infty}g(x)=M$ to see that

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{red}{D_1}>0: x>D_1 \implies \color{red}{|f(x)-L|}<\color{red}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{blue}{D_2}>0: x>D_2 \implies \color{blue}{|g(x)-M|}<\color{blue}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{green}{D_3}>0: x>D_3 \implies \color{green}{|f(x)-L|}<\color{green}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{purple}{D_4}>0: x>D_4 \implies \color{purple}{|g(x)-M|}<\color{purple}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}}\]

Therefore, if we take $D=\max\{D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4\}$, we now see that

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists\,D>0:x>D\implies |f(x)g(x)-LM| < \color{red}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}} \color{blue}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}} + |M|\color{green}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}} + |L|\color{purple}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}} = \frac{\epsilon}{3}+ \frac{\epsilon}{3}+ \frac{\epsilon}{3} = \epsilon.\]

Hence, $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to\infty} f(x)g(x) = \lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)\cdot\lim_{x\to\infty}g(x) = LM$.

I hope this makes sense! (Sun)
 
  • #5
Thanks! Now I see what I did missunderstand.. I am well aware of those rule but not that they had same name.. I first thought they meant \(\displaystyle f(x)g(x)=f'(x)g(x)+f(x)g'(x)\) the derivate rule.. As My teacher Said they Dont expect well explain,
Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
 
Last edited:
  • #6
Chris L T521 said:
For starters, that's how I would define $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$. On the other hand, we have 3 cases to consider for infinite limits:

1. We have $\displaystyle \lim_{x\to a}f(x)=\pm\infty\iff \forall\,E>0,\,\exists\,\delta>0: 0<|x-a|<\delta\implies |f(x)|> E$.

2. We have $\displaystyle \lim_{x\to \pm\infty}f(x)=L \iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists\, D>0: |x|>D \implies |f(x)-L|<\epsilon$

3. We have $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to \pm\infty}f(x)=\pm\infty \iff \forall\, E>0,\,\exists\, D>0: |x|>D \implies |f(x)|>E$


With all that said, to me, it seems like you're supposed to use one of these definitions to prove:

a. The sum/difference rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)\pm g(x) = L\pm M$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to\infty$).

b. The product rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)g(x) = LM$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to \infty$).

c. The quotient rule: If $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}g(x)=M\neq 0$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}\frac{f(x)}{g(x)} = \frac{L}{M}$ (or the equivalent form for $x\to\infty$).
I'll show product rule in the case of $x\to \infty$. So, we know that
\[\lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)=L\iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\exists\,D_1>0: x>D_1\implies |f(x)-L|<\epsilon\]
and
\[\lim_{x\to\infty}g(x)=M\iff \forall\,\epsilon>0,\exists\,D_2>0: x>D_2\implies |g(x)-M|<\epsilon\]
(we will come back to this part in a bit because we're going to need to use each of these guys twice.)

Ideally, we would like to see the product $(f(x)-L)(g(x)-M)$ appear in the $|f(x)g(x)-LM|$ term. To get it to appear, we note that $(f(x)-L)(g(x)-M)=f(x)g(x)-Mf(x)-Lg(x) + LM$ and thus

\[\begin{aligned}f(x)g(x)-LM &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + Mf(x) + Lg(x) - 2LM\\ &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + Mf(x)-LM + Lg(x) - LM\\ &= (f(x)-L)(g(x)-M) + M(f(x)-L) + L(g(x)-M)\end{aligned}\]

Therefore,

\[|f(x)g(x)-LM| \leq \color{red}{|f(x)-L|}\color{blue}{|g(x)-M|} + |M|\color{green}{|f(x)-L|} + |L|\color{purple}{|g(x)-M|}.\]

Now, we use the facts that $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)=L$ and $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to \infty}g(x)=M$ to see that

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{red}{D_1}>0: x>D_1 \implies \color{red}{|f(x)-L|}<\color{red}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{blue}{D_2}>0: x>D_2 \implies \color{blue}{|g(x)-M|}<\color{blue}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{green}{D_3}>0: x>D_3 \implies \color{green}{|f(x)-L|}<\color{green}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}}\]

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists \color{purple}{D_4}>0: x>D_4 \implies \color{purple}{|g(x)-M|}<\color{purple}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}}\]

Therefore, if we take $D=\max\{D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4\}$, we now see that

\[\forall\,\epsilon>0,\,\exists\,D>0:x>D\implies |f(x)g(x)-LM| < \color{red}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}} \color{blue}{\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}} + |M|\color{green}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}} + |L|\color{purple}{\frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}} = \frac{\epsilon}{3}+ \frac{\epsilon}{3}+ \frac{\epsilon}{3} = \epsilon.\]

Hence, $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to\infty} f(x)g(x) = \lim_{x\to\infty}f(x)\cdot\lim_{x\to\infty}g(x) = LM$.

I hope this makes sense! (Sun)
Hi,
I got some question, what means with \(\displaystyle D_1\) is it like delta? then I don't see how you got \(\displaystyle \sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}\) and \(\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}\), \(\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}\), what does this exactly mean \(\displaystyle D=\max\{D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4\}\). Your explaining was really good and it did make sense just some question and then evrything is clear! Thanks for taking your time!

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
 
  • #7
Petrus said:
Hi,
I got some question, what means with \(\displaystyle D_1\) is it like delta? then I don't see how you got \(\displaystyle \sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}\) and \(\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}\), \(\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}\), what does this exactly mean \(\displaystyle D=\max\{D_1,D_2,D_3,D_4\}\). Your explaining was really good and it did make sense just some question and then evrything is clear! Thanks for taking your time!

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)

With regards to the $D$'s, I suppose you can think of them as $\delta$'s, but in a different way. When you're doing $x\to a$ limits, you take $\delta$ to be a value relatively close to $a$, but for $x\to\infty$ limits, $D$ is usually assumed to be some very large number on the real line where we seem to see convergence (i.e. $|f(x)-L|<\epsilon$) for $x>D$.

With regards to my choices for $\epsilon$'s: when we had the inequality

\[|f(x)g(x)-LM|\leq |f(x)-L||g(x)-M| + |M||f(x)-L| + |L||g(x)-M|\]

note that we have three different terms being added together. If we want $|f(x)g(x)-LM|<\epsilon$, we would like each piece to be less than $\dfrac{\epsilon}{3}$. With that, we must have

\[|f(x)-L||g(x)-M| < \frac{\epsilon}{3},\quad |M||f(x)-L| < \frac{\epsilon}{3},\quad\text{and}\quad |L||g(x)-M|<\frac{\epsilon}{3}\]

Thus, for $\displaystyle|f(x)-L||g(x)-M| < \frac{\epsilon}{3}$, we would need $\displaystyle |f(x)-L| <\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}$ and $\displaystyle |g(x)-M| < \sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}$.

For $\displaystyle |M||f(x)-L| < \frac{\epsilon}{3}$, we would need $\displaystyle |f(x)-L| < \frac{\epsilon}{3|M|}$.

For $\displaystyle |L||g(x)-M| < \frac{\epsilon}{3}$, we would need $\displaystyle |g(x)-M| < \frac{\epsilon}{3|L|}$.

The crucial thing to note here is that we have all these inequalities satisfied for different $D$ values!

Since there were 4 total pieces in that sum (but three terms that were being added together), we had to have four different $D$ values: $D_1$, $D_2$, $D_3$ and $D_4$. Thus, if we have to have $x>D_1$ and $x>D_2$ and $x>D_3$ and $x>D_4$ in order to have

\[x>D\implies |f(x)g(x)-LM|< \sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}}\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon}{3}} + |M|\frac{\epsilon}{3|M|} + |L|\frac{\epsilon}{3|L|} = \frac{\epsilon}{3}+\frac{\epsilon}{3} + \frac{\epsilon}{3} = \epsilon\]

we take $D$ to be the largest of the $D_i$'s; i.e. $D=\max\{D_1, D_2, D_3, D_4\}$ (Note here that if we were dealing with multiple $\delta$'s [say $\delta_1,\ldots, \delta_n$], we would then take $\delta$ to be the smallest of the $\delta_i$'s; i.e. $\delta=\min \{\delta_1,\ldots,\delta_n\}$).

With all that said, I hope this clarifies things! (Sun)
 
  • #8
Hello,
i try find the proof for all of the rest of those law when \(\displaystyle x->\infty\) but can't find them especially Quotient rule as I think the rest I got:S idk if it's correct. Anyone got a Link for them all proof?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
 
  • #9
Petrus said:
Hello,
i try find the proof for all of the rest of those law when \(\displaystyle x->\infty\) but can't find them especially Quotient rule as I think the rest I got:S idk if it's correct. Anyone got a Link for them all proof?

Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)

I was going to respond to this a couple days ago, but then got distracted by something else and forgot about it... (Wasntme)

You can find all of the other proofs here.
 

FAQ: Where can I find proofs for the limit of a function as x approaches infinity?

What is the definition of a limit of a function?

The limit of a function is a fundamental concept in calculus that describes the behavior of a function as its input approaches a specific value or point. It represents the value that the function is approaching, or the value that the function gets closer and closer to, as its input gets closer and closer to the specified value.

How is the limit of a function written?

The limit of a function is typically written in mathematical notation as "lim f(x) as x approaches a" or "f(x) -> a" where "a" is the specified value or point that the input is approaching. For example, "lim f(x) as x -> 2" or "f(x) -> 2" would represent the limit of a function as its input approaches the value of 2.

What does the limit of a function tell us?

The limit of a function tells us about the behavior of the function near a specific point or value. It can help us determine if the function is continuous at that point, and if it has a defined value at that point. It can also help us approximate the value of the function at that point, even if the function is not defined at that point.

What are the two types of limits of a function?

The two types of limits of a function are one-sided limits and two-sided limits. One-sided limits describe the behavior of the function as the input approaches the specified value from either the left or the right side. Two-sided limits describe the overall behavior of the function as the input approaches the specified value from both sides.

How are limits of a function used in calculus?

Limits of a function are an essential concept in calculus and are used to define important concepts such as continuity, derivatives, and integrals. They allow us to analyze the behavior of functions in a specific point or interval and make predictions about their overall behavior. They are also used to solve various problems in mathematics and science, including optimization and rate of change.

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