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Authors: Bill Davis, Horacio Porta, and Jerry Uhl ©1999 Producer: Bruce Carpenter Publisher: Math Everywhere, Inc. Distributor: Wolfram Research, Inc. |
| EXAMPLE
SOLUTION |
. In[1]:=
Clear[f,x]; f[x_] = (25x^4-Log[x]+E^x)/(2x^4+7x+3E^x);
In[2]:=
Plot[f[x], {x,-10,20},
PlotStyle->
{{Blue,Thickness[.015]}},
AxesLabel->{"x","f[x]"}];

Answer:
The graph of the function, f(x), approaches the x-axis. Therefore the height
(and value of the function) approach 0.
So, the limit of f(x) is 0.
f[x_] = (25x^4-Log[x]+E^x)/(2x^4+7x+3E^x)
Out[3]=
x 4
E + 25 x - Log[x]
-------------------
x 4
3 E + 7 x + 2 x
In[4]:=
f[100]
Out[4]=
100
2500000000 + E - Log[100]
----------------------------
100
200000700 + 3 E
In[5]:=
N[f[100]]
Out[5]=
0.333333
In[6]:=
N[f[1000]]
Out[6]=
0.333333
In[7]:=
N[f[10000]]
Out[7]=
0.333333
Answer:
The limit is really 0.333333
Answer:
As x gets bigger and bigger the Ex is going to dominate which
means the Log[x],
2x4, and 7x are not going to matter. That leaves us with
Ex/(3 Ex) = 1/3.
That sounds really good. Can you make the graph from above look like it is
giving additional evidence towards your answer?
Plot[f[x], {x,100,1000},
PlotStyle->
{{Blue,Thickness[.015]}},
AxesLabel->{"x","f[x]"}];

This graph is showing a horizontal line at a height of 0.33333 which agrees
with the algebra answer.
The previous graph was graphing from -10 to 20 which was too little to show
global scale.
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