Home > APCALC > Chapter 6 > Lesson 6.1.4 > Problem 6-53
6-53.
Evaluate.
Be careful! Evaluating this limit as
leads to trouble: That means we do not know if the limit is finite (because the
s 'cancel out') or infinite (because there is a in the denominator). We can evaluate an indeterminate limit if that limit happens to be a definition of the derivative.
Sure enough, part (a) is Ana's Definition of the Derivative:Since
, notice that . So we can rewrite the limit as: So, we just need to find
at and we have evaluated the limit. Now evaluate that derivative at
:
Refer to part (a).
l’Hôpital’s Rule can be used.
See part (c).
Be sure to reevaluate the limit after each use of l’Hôpital’s Rule.