Exercise Solution HW1 (2.

3)

2. The graphs of f and g are given. Use them to evaluate each limit, if it exists. If it does not exist,
explain why.
(a) lim [f (x) + g(x)] (b) lim [f (x) − g(x)] (c) lim [f (x)g(x)]
x→2 x→0 x→−1
f (x) 2
(d) lim (e) lim [x f (x)] (f) f (−1) + lim g(x)
x→3 g(x) x→2 x→−1

Sol.
(a)

lim [f (x) + g(x)] = lim f (x) + lim g(x) [Limit Law 1(addition)]
x→2 x→2 x→2
= −1 + 2
=1

(b) lim f (x) exists, but lim g(x) does not exist, so we cannot apply Limit Law 2(substraction) to
x→0 x→0
lim [f (x) − g(x)]. The limit does not exist.
x→0
(c)

lim [f (x)g(x)] = lim f (x) · lim g(x) [Limit Law 4(multiplication)]

x→−1 x→−1 x→−1

=1·2
=2

f (x)
(d) lim f (x) = 1, but lim g(x) = 0, so we cannot apply Limit Law 5(division) to lim . The
x→3 x→3 x→3 g(x)
limit does not exist.
(Note that g(x) approaches to 0+ and 0− when x approaches 3 from both side. Therefore the limit
does not exist, even as an infinite limit.) (e)

lim [x2 f (x)] = lim x2 · lim f (x) [Limit Law 4]

x→2 x→2 x→2
2
= 2 · (−1)
= −4

(f) f (−1) + lim g(x) is undefined since f (−1) is not defined.

x→−1

14.
x2 + 3x
lim
x→−3 x2 − x − 12
Sol.
(Again, factorization first)
x2 + 3x x(x + 3) x −3 3
lim 2 = lim = lim = =
x→−3 x − x − 12 x→−3 (x + 3)(x − 4) x→−3 x − 4 −3 − 4 7

1
16.
x2 + 3x
lim
x→4 x2 − x − 12

Sol.
x2 + 3x x(x + 3) x
lim = lim = lim
x→4 x2 − x − 12 x→4 (x + 3)(x − 4) x→4 x − 4
The last limit doesn’t exist as the numerator approaching to 4 and the denominator approaching
to 0.
x x
You can also say that lim = −∞ and lim = ∞, so the limit does not exist.
x→4 x − 4
− x→4 x − 4
+

28.  
1 1
lim − 2
t→0 t t +t

Sol. 
1 1 t+1−1 1 1
lim − 2 = lim = lim = =1
t→0 t t +t t→0 t(t + 1) t→0 (t + 1) 0+1
(DO NOT compute the limits separately without knowing the existence of both limits first)

32. √
x2 + 9 − 5
lim
x→−4 x+4
Sol.
Try to cancel the square root in the numerator/denominator.

√ √ √
x2 + 9 − 5 ( x2 + 9 − 5)( x2 + 9 + 5)
lim = lim √
x→−4 x+4 x→−4 (x + 4)( x2 + 9 + 5)
x2 − 16
= lim √
x→−4 (x + 4)( x2 + 9 + 5)

(x + 4)(x − 4)
= lim √
x→−4 (x + 4)( x2 + 9 + 5)

x−4
= lim √
x→−4 x2 + 9 + 5
−4 − 4 −8 −4
=√ = =
16 + 9 + 5 10 5

√
42. Prove that lim xesin(π/x) = 0
x→0+
Sol.
Usually when there is sin or cos in the limit, 1 and -1 are a good bound for squeezing.
√ √ √
−1 ≤ sin(π/x) ≤ 1 ⇒ e−1 ≤ esin(π/x) ≤ e1 ⇒ xe−1 ≤ xesin(π/x) ≤ xe1
√ √ √
Since lim+ ( x/e) = 0 and lim+ xe = 0, we have lim+ xesin(π/x) = 0 bu the Squeeze Theorem.
x→0 x→0 x→0

2
55. (a) If the symbol J K denotes the greatest integer function defined in Example 10, evaluate
(i) lim JxK (ii) lim JxK (iii) lim JxK
x→2+ x→−2 x→−2.4
(b) If n is an integer, evaluate
(i) lim JxK (ii) lim JxK
x→n− x→n+
(c) For what values of a does limx→a JxK exist?

Sol.
(a)
(i) JxK = −2 for −2 ≤ x < 1, so lim JxK = lim (−2) = −2
x→−2+ x→−2+
(ii) JxK = −3 for −3 ≤ x < −2, so lim JxK = lim (−3) = −3.
x→−2− x→−2−
The right and the left limits are different, so lim JxK does not exist.
x→−2
(iii) JxK = −3 for −3 ≤ x < −2, so lim JxK = lim (−3) = −3.
x→−2.4 x→−2.4

(b)
(i) JxK = n − 1 for n − 1 ≤ x < n, so lim JxK = lim (n − 1) = n − 1
x→n− x→n−
(ii) JxK = n for n ≤ x < n + 1, so lim JxK = lim (n) = n
x→n+ x→n+

(c) From part (b) we found that the left and right limits do not equal when n is an integer. So
lim JxK exist ⇐⇒ a is not an integer.
x→a

57. If f (x) = JxK + J−xK, show that limx→2 f (x) exists but is not equal to f (2)
Sol.
If we draw the graph of JxK and J−xK, we’ll found that the graph of them adding together is the
same as the graph of g(x) = −1 with holes at each integer, since f (a) = 0 for any integer a.
Thus limx→2− f (x) = limx→2+ f (x) = −1 ⇒ limx→2 f (x) = −1, but f (2) = 0.
Hence lim f (x) ̸= f (2).
x→2