Analysis: Finding limit with l'Hospital

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The discussion centers on evaluating the limit of a function as x approaches 0 using l'Hospital's Rule and alternative methods. One participant initially believed they applied l'Hospital's Rule twice but later acknowledged using it only once. Another contributor pointed out that l'Hospital's Rule is not necessary for this problem, as a known limit involving sine can be utilized instead. The correct limit leads to the conclusion that tan(pi/3) equals sqrt(3). The conversation highlights the importance of understanding limit properties and the interchangeability of limits and continuous functions.
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I'm not sure what I did with this expression is right.

I looked at the argument as x tends to 0. I used l'Hospital twice and found that the argument tends to pi/3. Of course, tan(pi/3) = sqrt3.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n149/camarolt4z28/Untitled-3.png
 
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How did you use l'Hospital twice? Your method is legal. The result is correct.

ehild
 
ehild said:
How did you use l'Hospital twice? Your method is legal. The result is correct.

ehild

Oops. You're right. I just used it once.

I plugged this into my TI-89 Ti, and it didn't agree with my analytical result. I suppose it's not very reliable as it didn't agree for a couple of other problems, too.
 
It's worth noting that you don't need to use L'Hopital's Rule at all for this problem.

\lim_{x \to 0^+}\tan\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x}{6x}\right)
=\tan (\lim_{x \to 0^+}\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x \cdot 2\pi x}{2\pi x \cdot 6x}\right))
=\tan (\lim_{x \to 0^+}\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x}{2\pi x} \cdot \frac{2\pi x}{6x}\right))
=\tan (\frac{\pi}{3}) = \sqrt{3}

I used a wellknown limit, \lim_{t \to 0} \frac{sin(t)}{t} = 1 and the fact that you can interchange the limit and function, provided the function is continuous at the limiting point.
 
Mark44 said:
It's worth noting that you don't need to use L'Hopital's Rule at all for this problem.

\lim_{x \to 0^+}\tan\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x}{6x}\right)
=\tan (\lim_{x \to 0^+}\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x \cdot 2\pi x}{2\pi x \cdot 6x}\right))
=\tan (\lim_{x \to 0^+}\left( \frac{sin 2\pi x}{2\pi x} \cdot \frac{2\pi x}{6x}\right))
=\tan (\frac{\pi}{3}) = \sqrt{3}

I used a wellknown limit, \lim_{t \to 0} \frac{sin(t)}{t} = 1 and the fact that you can interchange the limit and function, provided the function is continuous at the limiting point.

I like that method better. Ah. I didn't know that. I haven't read the section yet, but I'm sure it mentions being able to interchange the limit and function.
 
Question: A clock's minute hand has length 4 and its hour hand has length 3. What is the distance between the tips at the moment when it is increasing most rapidly?(Putnam Exam Question) Answer: Making assumption that both the hands moves at constant angular velocities, the answer is ## \sqrt{7} .## But don't you think this assumption is somewhat doubtful and wrong?

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