- Difficulty
- Standard
- Suggested time
- 4 min
- Marks
- 2
Exponential and trigonometric functions practice question 15
Evaluate the limit.
Which standard limit about as could help here, and what must be true of its argument? The tangent will need rewriting before it fits.
Write . The limit needs the same argument on top and bottom.
Multiply and divide so that sits over and over .
An exact value, or a decimal to two places.
Theory UBC Math 100 §4.2CLP-1 §2.8Key results
Worked solution
Strategy
Turn the tangent into sine over cosine, then pair each sine with its own argument so the standard limit sin u / u → 1 applies to both.
Working
tan is sin over cos.
Multiply and divide by 3x and by 4x.
Each sine ratio tends to 1, cos 0 = 1, and the x cancels in 3x/(4x).
Answer
The answer is three quarters.
Check
At x = 0.01 the quotient is about 0.7495, close to 3/4.
Where this goes wrong
Answering 1 because a sine over a tangent looks like the standard limit. sin u / u → 1 only when the arguments match; here they are 3x and 4x, which leaves 3/4.
Leans on
The limit of sin x over x, from Limits
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