Estimating Limits from Graphs and Tables

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AP Calculus BC › Estimating Limits from Graphs and Tables

Questions 1 - 10
1

Screen shot 2015 07 07 at 1.28.45 pm

Given the graph of above, what is ?

Explanation

Examining the graph of the function above, we need to look at three things:

  1. What is the limit of the function as it approaches zero from the left?

  2. What is the limit of the function as it approaches zero from the right?

  3. What is the function value at zero and is it equal to the first two statements?

If we look at the graph we see that as approaches zero from the left the values approach zero as well. This is also true if we look the values as approaches zero from the right. Lastly we look at the function value at zero which in this case is also zero.

Therefore, we can observe that as approaches .

2

Limitplot

Explanation

3

Screen shot 2015 08 17 at 11.29.05 am

Given the above graph of , what is ?

Does Not Exist

Explanation

Examining the graph, we can observe that does not exist, as is not continuous at . We can see this by checking the three conditions for which a function is continuous at a point :

  1. A value exists in the domain of
  2. The limit of exists as approaches
  3. The limit of at is equal to

Given , we can see that condition #1 is not satisfied because the graph has a vertical asymptote instead of only one value for and is therefore an infinite discontinuity at .

We can also see that condition #2 is not satisfied because approaches two different limits: from the left and from the right.

Based on the above, condition #3 is also not satisfied because is not equal to the multiple values of .

Thus, does not exist.

4

Limitplot

Explanation

5

Limitplot

Explanation

6

Screen shot 2015 07 07 at 4.36.36 pm

Given the graph of above, what is ?

Does not exist

Explanation

Examining the graph above, we need to look at three things:

  1. What is the limit of the function as approaches zero from the left?

  2. What is the limit of the function as approaches zero from the right?

  3. What is the function value as and is it the same as the result from statement one and two?

Therefore, we can determine that does not exist, since approaches two different limits from either side : from the left and from the right.

7

For the piecewise function:

, find .

Any real number.

Does not exist.

Explanation

The limit indicates that we are trying to find the value of the limit as approaches to zero from the right side of the graph.

From right to left approaching , the limit approaches to 1 even though the value at of the piecewise function does not exist.

The answer is .

8

Limitplot

Explanation

9

Limitplot

Explanation

10

Limitplot

Explanation

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