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Lecture Notes
To understand the ideas in chapter 8, we will need to have a better understanding of limits at
infinity. We begin with a few examples.
EXAMPLE 1 Find lim
8_
SOLUTION
#8 %
.
8"
Note that both the numerator and denominator of the fraction are approaching
infinity. However, the ratio of two infinities may be anythingit depends on how they compare.
Let's try plugging in some values for 8:
8
#8 %
8"
"!
#%
""
#8 %
8"
#")")
"!!
#!%
"!"
#!"*)
"!!!
#,!!%
",!!"
#!!#!
"!,!!!
#!,!!%
"!,!!"
#!!!#
For large values of 8, the numerator #8 % is almost exactly twice the denominator 8 ", so
the ratio approaches #. What's happening is that the constants % and " are becoming less and less
important as 8 grows larger: two billion and four isn't very different from two billion. As
8 _, these constants play no role in the outcome:
#8 %
#8
lim
#.
8_ 8 "
8_ 8
lim
In general, when finding a limit as 8 _, it is usually only necessary to pay attention to the
largest term of a sum. For a polynomial, this is the term with the highest power of 8:
8# &8
.
8_ " %8$
The only significant term in the denominator is the %8$ , and the only significant
term in the numerator is the 8# . (The &8 is completely dwarfed by the 8# as 8 _. It is the
!.
8_ " %8#
8_ %8$
lim
The goal of these notes is to expand upon these ideas. This material is not discussed in the
text, but it should be. Once you get the hang of it, the methods presented here will let you
evaluate limits much more quickly, and will help to develop your intuition for how functions
behave as 8 _. This intuition will prove useful again and again in the most difficult parts of
chapter 8.
DEFINITION
Let e+8 f and e,8 f be sequences. We say that +8 is much smaller than ,8 as 8 _, and write
+8 ,8
as 8 _
if
lim
8_
,8
_.
+8
Note that the symbol , which means is much smaller than or is much less than, consists of
two less than symbols ( ) in a row.
EXAMPLE 3 For a basic example, observe that 8 is much smaller than 8# as 8 _, since
8#
lim
_. More generally, 8: 8; whenever : ; :
8_ 8
$
8 8 8 8 # 8 $ .
EXAMPLE 4 Which is larger: 8& or #8 ? The following table compares these sequences for
different values of 8:
8&
#8
&
$,"#&
$#
"!
"!!,!!!
", !#%
"&
(&*,$(&
$#,(')
#!
)!!,!!!
",!%),&('
&!
$"#,&!!,!!!
","#&,)**,*!',)%#,'#%
"!!
"!,!!!,!!!,!!!
",#'(,'&!,'!!,##),##*,%!",%*',(!$,#!&,$('
It may surprise you that #"!! is so much larger than "!!& . The idea is that multiplication is
very powerful: #"!! is larger because it is the product of "!! different things, while "!!& is the
product of only five things. For this same reason, any exponential function will be much larger
than any power of 8 as 8 _, e.g.
a"!"b8
_.
8_ 8"!!
lim
log 8
"!!
"!
"!,!!!
"!!
",!!!,!!!
'
"!!!
"!!,!!!,!!!
"!,!!!
8_
8
log 8
_.
Indeed, although log 8 _ as 8 _, it does so more slowly than any positive power
of 8. For example:
8!!"
_.
8_ log 8
lim
Note that logarithms with different bases are simply multiples of one another. For example,
ln 8
log 8
#$ log 8.
log /
EXAMPLE 6 Recall that any exponential function is larger than any power of 8.
The
" # $ ** "!!
number.
We now have a fairly clear picture of the hierarchy of functions:
Knowing the order of functions in this hierarchy can make certain limits very easy to evaluate:
8_
+8
!.
,8
+8
_.
8_ ,8
(a) lim
&8
8_ 8x
(b) lim
#8
8_ 8$
(c) lim
SOLUTION
There are two other rules you should be aware of. The first is that adding small functions
together yields a small function:
If +8 and ,8 are both much smaller than -8 , then +8 ,8 -8 .
For example, 8 ln 8 8( #8 as 8 _.
The second is that the notion of "much smaller than" is unaffected by constants: So:
If +8 ,8 , then G +8 H,8 for any nonzero constants G and H.
For example, "!! 8$ "# 8% as 8 _ since 8$ 8% .
)8$ $8 ln 8 &8
.
8_
8x
Asymptotic Equivalence
Consider the limit
8$ (
8_ &8$ ln 8
lim
Though the numerator is 8$ (, the ( won't contribute very much when 8 is large, so we can
think of the numerator as just 8$ . Similarly, since ln 8 &8$ , it is reasonable to ignore the ln 8
and think of the denominator as just &8$ . Therefore:
8$ (
8$
"
lim
8_ &8$ ln 8
8_ &8$
&
lim
8_
It might seem that the %8 under the first square root isn't contributing much, so that:
?
lim 8# %8 8#
8_
lim 8# 8# !
8_
But this is not correct: the actual value of the limit is # (see example 12 below). How can we
tell whether it's legitimate to ignore smaller terms?
DEFINITION
We say that two sequences e+8 f and e,8 f are asymptotically equivalent, and write
+ 8 ,8
as 8 _
if
+8
".
8_ ,8
lim
Asymptotic equivalence is our basic notion of being "essentially the same". For example, in the
limit
8$ (
,
8_ &8$ ln 8
lim
THEOREM
1. Asymptotically equivalent sequences have the same limit. That is, if +8 ,8 as 8 _, then
lim +8 lim ,8
8_
8_
and
+8
E8
.
,8
F8
we first observe that 8$ ( 8$ and &8$ ln 8 &8$ . Using part 2 of the theorem, we
conclude that
8$ (
8$
.
$
&8 ln 8
&8$
and therefore, using part 1 of the theorem
8$ (
8$
"
lim
.
8_ &8$ ln 8
8_ &8$
&
lim
Of course, you don't need to give as much detail as this when you're doing calculations. Just
keep in mind that replacing the numerator or denominator of a fraction is safe:
$8# (8 #8 ln 8
.
8_
&8# 8 8x
The #8 is the largest term in the numerator, and the 8x is the largest term in the
denominator. Therefore,
$8# (8 #8 ln 8
#8
lim
!.
8_
8_ 8x
&8# 8 8x
lim
THEOREM
+ 8 ,8 .
2. Assuming that +8 ,8 _ as 8 _:
lna+8 b lna,8 b
8# '8 %
$8 "
8_
SOLUTION
8_
8# '8 %
$8 "
lim
8_
8
"
$8
$
8 8
.
8_ lna#8 8$ "b
# 8 8 $ " #8 ,
we
see
that
Therefore:
8 8
8
"
lim
8
$
8_ lna# 8 "b
8_ 8 ln #
ln #
lim
Note that it is not safe to make replacements inside of other functions. For example, /8 8 is not
#
/8 8
lim 8# lim /8 _.
8_ /
8_
Similarly, a8 "b8 is not equivalent to 88 , and a8 "bx is not asymptotically equivalent to 8x.
You can also run into trouble with subtractions. For a very basic example, observe that the
following calculation is clearly wrong:
lim $8# & $8# # lim $8# $8# !
8_
8_
(WRONG)
The problem is that the big terms are canceling, so the smaller terms ( & and #) become
important, and cannot be ignored. Here is a more complicated example:
SOLUTION
8_
8_
(WRONG)
Because the 8# terms are canceling, the part of 8# %8 that comes from the %8 is critically
important, and cannot be ignored.
In case you're curious, one way of evaluating this limit is to use the conjugate expression:
lim 8# %8 8# lim
8_
8# %8 8# 8# %8 8#
8# %8 8#
8_
lim
But 8# 8 8# 8, so
lim 8# %8 8# lim
8_
8_
%8
#.
88
In general, it's ok to replace the terms in an addition or subtraction as long as nothing cancels to
zero. For example, in the above calculation we used the fact that:
8 8# 8 8 8# #8
This was perfectly legitimate, since the addition isn't causing any cancellation.
Here is one final example illustrating everything we have learned:
8' % ln 8 #8 8#
8_
SOLUTION
8' % ln 8 8' 8$
and
as 8 _. Therefore,
lim
8_
8' % ln 8 #8 8#
lna8( "b %8$ "!!8
8 $ # 8 8 #
8_ ( ln 8 %8$ "!!8
lim
8$
"
$
8_ %8
%
lim
EXERCISES
18 Evaluate the limit.
15. lim
#8
8_ /8
16. lim
8&
8_ /8
2. lim
88
8_ 8x
4. lim
/#8
8_ 8x
6. lim
lna$8 b
8_
8
8. lim
1. lim
3. lim
5. lim
8_
7. lim
8'
8%
#8
8_ & %8
8' #8 "
8_
&8"! #
8_ a8# "b&
lna8& "b
8_ " ln 8
17. lim
8# %8$ "
8_ lna8 $b #8#
18. lim
8 lna#8 b
19. lim
914 Evaluate the limit.
8# "
8_ 8$ "
9. lim
10. lim
8_
8 #8 $8#
8# "
a8xb# "
$
8_ 8&
8
11. lim
)8& %8# $8
8_ 8( #8 & ln 8
" #8$
8_
20. lim
&8 lna8# b
8# #8 &
8 lna8# "b
8_
8# & * 8 (
8_
/ 8 $8 "
21. lim
22. lim
8_
8 $8 ln 8
12. lim
8# %8 "
13. lim
8_
8 #8
# 8 $ 8 88
8_
8x
14. lim
/8 " 8$
23. lim
#
8_ " 8 /8
24. lim
8_
*8# 8 8#
%8 "