- Topic
- Continuity
- Difficulty
- Introductory
- Suggested time
- 3 min
- Marks
- 2
Continuity practice question 5
Find the value of the constant that makes continuous at .
Which piece gives , and which piece do you need a limit of? What happens if you put straight into that one?
Continuity at needs . The left piece gives at , so rewrite it using .
Multiply and divide by , so the denominator matches the argument of sine: .
An integer or a fraction.
Theory UBC Math 100 §2.3CLP-1 §1.6Key results
Worked solution
Strategy
The line gives both f(0) and the limit from the right. The trigonometric piece meets the join as 0/0; turn it into the standard limit, then set the two sides equal.
Working
From the right, and at 0 itself, the line applies.
Make the denominator match the argument of sine.
As x → 0, u = 6x → 0 as well, so sin u/u → 1.
Continuity: the limit from the left must equal f(0).
Answer
The answer is c equals 3.
Check
At x = −0.01 the left piece is sin(−0.06)/(−0.02) ≈ 2.998, close to 3, where the right piece starts when c = 3.
Where this goes wrong
Treating sin(6x)/(2x) as tending to 1, or substituting x = 0 and reading 0/0 as 0. The standard limit needs the argument of sine and the denominator to match, which leaves a factor 6/2 = 3.
Leans on
The limit of sin u over u, from Limits
Try a similar question
Evaluate the limit.Saved in this browser only.