• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Conditions on L'Hopital's rule (1 Viewer)

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
I've forgotten why L'Hopitals breaks down for this.



Isn't it technically infty/infty
 

InteGrand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6,109
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
I've forgotten why L'Hopitals breaks down for this.



Isn't it technically infty/infty
The resulting limit obtained from the L'Hospital step needs to exist (the limit being infinity counting as 'exists' for these purposes). If it doesn't, then the rule doesn't work. In this case, the resulting limit doesn't exist, because it is limit as x -> oo of (1 + cos(x))/(1 - cos(x)), and this function just keeps oscillating as x gets large so no limit exists.

(Of course, the answer to the original limit is 1.)
 
Last edited:

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Oh right, forgot that the existence of the resulting limit is not always assumed to be possible.

But in that case I don't know how to do the question anymore.



Do I have to determine this one seperately?
 

InteGrand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6,109
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Oh right, forgot that the existence of the resulting limit is not always assumed to be possible.

But in that case I don't know how to do the question anymore.



Do I have to determine this one seperately?
That sin(x)/x one can be shown to be 0 via the squeeze theorem.
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Alright traditional methods it is. Thanks lol
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Got the answer of 1 but I brute forced this one using L'H twice by combining the fractions first. Was wondering if there's a shortcut?

 

Paradoxica

-insert title here-
Joined
Jun 19, 2014
Messages
2,556
Location
Outside reality
Gender
Male
HSC
2016
Got the answer of 1 but I brute forced this one using L'H twice by combining the fractions first. Was wondering if there's a shortcut?

It can be shown, that for all x>-1



Similarly, for all x<1



Reciprocate both inequalities and add, to get



But this is useless.
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Fair enough. It wasn't hard, just that the product rule felt so dodge.
 

seanieg89

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
2,662
Gender
Male
HSC
2007
Notice you are applying a well known function (log) at x close to 1 (where log is quite nice).

A first order Taylor approximation works:



So



Don't worry if you don't know what the "big-O" notation stands for, you can still interpret this result by interpreting the first equation as:



in the same way that high schoolers are taught



These type of estimates are really useful for when we have "competing" zeros on the numerator and denominator of a function. All that matters is the "leading order" behaviour of both the numerator and denominator.


Note: It's this kind of discussion of leading order behaviour that can lead one to proving the 0/0 version of L'Hopitals.
 
Last edited:

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015


How would you do this one?

(I didn't know which thread I should be putting the question under)
 

InteGrand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6,109
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A


How would you do this one?

(I didn't know which thread I should be putting the question under)
You can do it via L'Hôpital. To show the numerator goes to infinity, try bounding the integrand.
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
You can do it via L'Hôpital. To show the numerator goes to infinity, try bounding the integrand.
Oops. Thanks lol; I accidentally had the impression that cos(1/x) goes to zero as x is large, not one. Think I just mixed up cos and sin

Though I'm having brainfarts. What function could I apply a comparison test on to properly prove it?
r u ok
 

Paradoxica

-insert title here-
Joined
Jun 19, 2014
Messages
2,556
Location
Outside reality
Gender
Male
HSC
2016
Oops. Thanks lol; I accidentally had the impression that cos(1/x) goes to zero as x is large, not one. Think I just mixed up cos and sin

Though I'm having brainfarts. What function could I apply a comparison test on to properly prove it?

Recall that



r u ok
No. I'm dying right now... my immune system gave way.

At least I did my X2 task... currently lost fewer marks than anyone else on it... for now.
 

InteGrand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6,109
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
There's an easier way, just show that for large enough values of u, cos(1/u) becomes bounded below by some positive constant. From this, show that the integral has to go to infinity.
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Yeah I was basically wondering if this was ok:

For some x>M, cos(1/u)>1/2 (or any 0 < x<1) and well obviously the (infinite) integral of a constant diverges by the p-test so that allows a comparison test to be used easily
 

seanieg89

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
2,662
Gender
Male
HSC
2007
If you need to estimate the integrand anyway, I would just go ahead and use the Taylor bounds you mentioned.

 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top