Recent content by CougarXLS

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    Limits, L'Hospital's Rule & Trigonometry

    Yes, I am with you so far. In typing this response, I seem to have neglected the observation that I am taking the limit from the right and that All Students Take Calculus... aka tan (pi/2 + 0.01) < 0 (where 0.01 is some very small positive number)! Which of course is negative. Sometimes I...
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    Limits, L'Hospital's Rule & Trigonometry

    Okay, what you say makes sense, but how do I know which it is? When I look at the graph of f(x)=cos x, I can understand how it can yield a negative value. What I don't understand is how, from the equation I am finding the limit of, how can I determine that a -1 is still hanging around? Is...
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    Limits, L'Hospital's Rule & Trigonometry

    Forgive me, but if the negatives canceled out, how do I know to 'move the -1' around? I realize that tan x is undefined and that it tells you it's one of the infinities, but doesn't tell you which... from that I concluded that because the -1 canceled out, the resulting limit would be positive...
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    Limits, L'Hospital's Rule & Trigonometry

    But it's not -sin x... the negatives canceled out... lim [x->pi/2]+ of -sinx / -cosx leaves a positive (the -1 cancels out) I don't understand. Even if (pi/2) is slightly bigger (as approaching from right), then sin x still goes to 1, not -1. I don't mean to be difficult; I wish to...
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    Limits, L'Hospital's Rule & Trigonometry

    SOLVED, thanks to Dick and viciousp! Homework Statement The question asks: Find the limit. Use L'Hospital's Rule where appropriate. If there is a more elementary method, consider using it. If L'Hospital's Rule doesn't apply, explain why. Limit as x approaches pi/2 from the right (+) of...
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    Trigonometry Review: Conflict Answer, Probably Me

    Ohhhh, okay, I think I get what you're saying. Because I canceled out the sin x term and not just factored it, I lost it; same idea as solving for x -> (x+2)(x+4)=0 ; x=-2 or -4; in this example I divided out the (x+4) and only arrived that x=-2, ignoring the (x+4), which I can't forget...
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    Trigonometry Review: Conflict Answer, Probably Me

    jhicks... not sure what you're getting at. Here's what I did when I said I "Rearranged and canceled" terms: sin x = sin x / cos x (because tan x = sin x / cos x) sin x * cos x = sin x (multiply both sides by cos x) cos x = sin x / sin x (divide both sides by sin x) cos x = 1...
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    Trigonometry Review: Conflict Answer, Probably Me

    SOLVED! Thank-you jhicks and Tedjn! I am taking a basic calculus course and have some weaknesses when it comes to trigonometry. In this case, it's pure trig. Homework Statement The question states: "Find all values of x in the interval [0,2pi] that satisfy the equation sin x = tan x"...
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    Limits: Power Function, can't get same answer

    Okay, thanks statdad. I figured it was something like that, but because this is all so new to me, I couldn't be sure. Thanks!
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    Limits: Power Function, can't get same answer

    1. Homework Statement : The question asks to find the limit as x approaches 8 of (2x^2 - 3x + 4). So I use the limit law/property which states that if f is a polynomial or rational function and if a is in the domain of f, then the limit of f(x) as x approaches a is f(a). Correct? 2...
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