Limit (mathematics)

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This is a partial overview of the idea of a limit in mathematics. For still more specific uses of "limit",
see Limit of a sequence and Limit of a function.
In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) "approaches" as the input (or
index) "approaches" some value.[1] Limits are essential to calculus (and mathematical analysis in
general) and are used to define continuity, derivatives, and integrals.
The concept of a limit of a sequence is further generalized to the concept of a limit of a topological
net, and is closely related to limit and direct limit in category theory.
In formulas, a limit is usually written as

and is read as "the limit of f of n as n approaches c equals L". The fact that a
function f(n) approaches the limit L as n approaches c is sometimes denoted by a right arrow
(→), as in

Contents

 1Limit of a function
 2Limit of a sequence
 3Limit as "standard part"
 4Convergence and fixed point
 5Computability of the limit
 6Topological net
 7See also
 8Notes
 9External links

Limit of a function[edit]
Main article: Limit of a function
 Whenever a point x is within δ units of c, f(x) is within ε units of L.

For all x > S, f(x) is within ε of L.

Suppose f is a real-valued function and c is a real number. Intuitively speaking, the

expression

means that f(x) can be made to be as close to L as desired by making x sufficiently

close to c. In that case, the above equation can be read as "the limit of f of x,
as x approaches c, is L".
Augustin-Louis Cauchy in 1821,[2] followed by Karl Weierstrass, formalized the definition
of the limit of a function which became known as the (ε, δ)-definition of limit. The
definition uses ε (the lowercase Greek letter epsilon) to represent any small positive
number, so that "f(x) becomes arbitrarily close to L" means that f(x) eventually lies in
the interval (L − ε, L + ε), which can also be written using the absolute value sign
as |f(x) − L| < ε.[2] The phrase "as x approaches c" then indicates that we refer to values
of x whose distance from c is less than some positive number δ (the lower case Greek
letter delta)—that is, values of x within either (c − δ, c) or (c, c + δ), which can be
expressed with 0 < |x − c| < δ. The first inequality means that the distance
between x and c is greater than 0 and that x ≠ c, while the second indicates that x is
within distance δ of c.[2]
The above definition of a limit is true even if f(c) ≠ L. Indeed, the function f need not
even be defined at c.
For example, if

then f(1) is not defined (see division by zero), yet as x moves arbitrarily close to
1, f(x) correspondingly approaches 2:

f(0.9) f(0.99) f(0.999) f(1.0) f(1.001) f(1.01) f(1.1)

1.900 1.990 1.999 ⇒ undefined ⇐ 2.001 2.010 2.100

Thus, f(x) can be made arbitrarily close to the limit of 2 just by making x sufficiently
close to 1.

In other words,

This can also be calculated algebraically, as for all real numbers x ≠ 1.

Now since x + 1 is continuous in x at 1, we can now plug in 1 for x, thus .

In addition to limits at finite values, functions can also have limits at infinity. For
example, consider

 f(100) = 1.9900
 f(1000) = 1.9990
 f(10000) = 1.99990
As x becomes extremely large, the value of f(x) approaches 2, and the value
of f(x) can be made as close to 2 as one could wish just by picking x sufficiently
large. In this case, the limit of f(x) as x approaches infinity is 2. In mathematical
notation,