Solutions Sheet 1, Limits Questions 16-19
16) For all y > 0 we have ey = limn→∞ sn where
n−1 r
X y
sn = .
r=0
r!
With m ≥ 0 fixed, we “throw away” all but the r = m + 1 term in sn , so
sn ≥ 0 for n ≤ m and
y m+1
sn ≥
(m + 1)!
for all n ≥ m + 1. Let n → ∞ to deduce
y m+1
ey >
(m + 1)!
for all y > 0. Rearranging,
ym (m + 1)!
0< y
< (1)
e y
for all y > 0. The sandwich rule now implies
ym
lim = 0.
y→∞ ey
17) Rough Work Consider
e − e−x −2e−x
x
2 2
|tanh x − 1| = x
−x
− 1 = x
−x
=
2x
< 2x
e +e e +e e +1 e
2 1
< = by (1) with m = 0, (2)
2x x
which is less than ε if x > 1/ε.
End of Rough Work.
Solution Let ε > 0 be given. Choose K = 1/ε.
Assume x > K. Then by the rough work above
1 1
|tanh x − 1| < < = ε.
x K
1
We have thus verified the definition of
lim tanh x = 1. (3)
x→∞
Note that
e−x − e−(−x) e−x − e−x ex − e−x
tanh (−x) = −x = −x =− x = − tanh x.
e + e−(−x) e + e−x e + e−x
Let ε > 0 be given. Choose L = −1/ε.
Assume x < L. Then if y = −x we have y > 1/ε and
|tanh x − (−1)| = |− tanh y − (−1)|
1
= |tanh y − 1| < by (2)
y
< ε, since y > 1/ε.
We have thus verified the definition of
lim tanh x = −1.
x→−∞
And the graph is
0.5
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
x
-0.5
-1
18) i) Start from the definition of an infinite series as the limit of the sequence
of partial sums, so
M N
x x2 x3 X xk 4
X xj
e −1−x− − = lim = x lim , (4)
2 3! M →∞
k=4
k! N →∞
j=0
(j + 4)!
2
where j = k −4 and N = M −4. Then, by the triangle inequality, (applicable
since we have a finite sum),
N N N
X xj X |x|j 1 X j
≤ ≤ |x|
(j + 4)! (j + 4)! 4!
j=0 j=0 j=0
since (j + 4)! ≥ 4! for all j ≥ 0,
!
1 1 − |x|N +1
= ,
4! 1 − |x|
on summing the Geometric Series, allowable when |x| 6= 1. In fact we have
|x| < 1/2 < 1, which means
1 − |x|N +1 1 1
≤ < = 2.
1 − |x| 1 − |x| 1 − 1/2
Hence N
X xj 2
≤
(j + 4)! 4!
j=0
for all N ≥ 0. Therefore, since the limit exists the limit must satisfy
N
j
X x 2
lim ≤ .
N →∞ (j + 4)! 4!
j=0
Combined with (4) we have
2 3
e − 1 − x − x − x ≤ 2 |x|4 .
x
2 3! 4!
ii) Rearranging this result gives
x
e − 1 − x − x2 /2 1
2
3
− < |x| < |x| (5)
x 6 4!
for |x| < 1/2. Let ε > 0 be given. Choose δ = min (1/2, ε).
Assume 0 < |x − 0| < δ. Since δ ≤ 1/2, the inequality (5) holds for such
x. Thus x
e − 1 − x − x2 /2 1
− < |x| < δ ≤ ε.
x3 6
3
Hence we have verified the definition of
ex − 1 − x − x2 /2 1
lim = .
x→0 x3 6
From the definition of sinh x we have
sinh x − x ex − e−x − 2x
= .
x3 2x3
This has to be manipulated so that we see ex − 1 − x − x2 /2 and can thus
use (5). Do this by “adding in zero” in the form 0 = −x2 /2 − − (−x)2 2 ,
to get
ex − e−x − 2x (ex − 1 − x − x2 /2) − (e−x − 1 − (−x) − (−x)2 /2)
=
2x3 2x3
(ex − 1 − x − x2 /2) (e−x − 1 − (−x) − (−x)2 /2)
= + .
2x3 2 (−x)3
Let x → 0 (trivially −x → 0) when, by the assumption of the question, we
get
sinh x − x 1 (ex − 1 − x − x2 /2)
lim = lim
x→0 x3 2 x→0 x3
1 (e−x − 1 − (−x) − (−x)2 /2)
+ lim
2 −x→0 2 (−x)3
1 1 1 1 1
= × + × = .
2 6 2 6 6
19) Throughout this question, let
π
h (x) = x sin for x 6= 0.
x
(i) The function h (x) has limit 0 as x → 0. We would hope to apply the
Theorem of Composition of limits with f = g = h and a = b = 0. We need
to verify the assumptions of that Theorem, namely that either h (0) = 0
or there exists a deleted neighbourhood of 0 on which h (x) does not take
the value 0. Unfortunately neither of these cases hold; h is not defined at 0,
4
while h (xn ) = 0 for xn of the form 10−n , n ≥ 1, and we can take n sufficiently
large to find such points in any deleted neighbourhood of 0.
Hence the Theorem of Composition of limits says nothing about
lim h (h (x)) .
x→0
ii) For xk = 2/ (3 + 4k), k ∈ N, it can be checked that
3 + 4k 3
h (xk ) = xk sin π = xk sin π = −xx < 0
2 2
Thus (x sin (π/x))1/2 is not defined on these xk . We can find xk arbitrarily
close to 0, in which case there is no deleted neighbourhood of 0 on which
(x sin (π/x))1/2 is defined. Hence limx→0 (x sin (π/x))1/2 does not exist.
√
iii) We hope to apply √ the Theorem of Composition of limits to h( x).
We need only that √ y = x is non-zero on some neighbourhood to the right
of 0 (and in fact x 6= 0 for all x > 0) and this is sufficient in the Theorem
of Composition of limits to deduce
√
lim h x = lim h (y) = 0.
x→0+ y→0+
