Maclaurin Limit of lnx: \frac{1}{2}

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SUMMARY

The limit calculation discussed is $$\lim_{{x}\to{1}}\left(\frac{x}{x-1}-\frac{1}{\ln x}\right)$$, which simplifies to $$\frac{x\ln x-x+1}{(x-1)\ln x}$$. The substitution $$u=x-1$$ leads to the expression involving the Maclaurin expansion of $$\ln(1+u)$$, specifically $$\ln(1+u) = u-\frac{u^2}{2}+u^3B(u)$$. The correct limit is established as $$\frac{1}{2}$$, and while L'Hôpital's Rule is a valid method, it is not permitted in this context.

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Hello,

I'm supposed to calculate the limit of this:

$$\lim_{{x}\to{1}}\left(\frac{x}{x-1}-\frac{1}{\ln x}\right)$$

Combining the fractions:
$$ \frac{x}{x-1}-\frac{1}{\ln x} = \frac{x\ln x-x+1}{(x-1)\ln x} $$

The substitute
$$ u=x-1 \implies x=1+u $$

then gives

$$\frac{(1+u)\ln(1+u)-1-u+1}{(1+u-1)\ln(1+u)}$$

Maclaurin expansion of $$\ln(1+u) $$ :

$$\ln(1+u) = u-\frac{u^2}{2}+u^3B(u) $$

Am I on the right path or am I completely misunderstanding this problem? It looks weird to me when I try to put it all together and I haven't been able to come to the right solution (which is $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ ).
 
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Are you required to use a Maclaurin expansion? If not, I would use L'Hôpital's Rule instead.
 
MarkFL said:
Are you required to use a Maclaurin expansion? If not, I would use L'Hôpital's Rule instead.

Yeah I've seen an example on this problem with L'Hôpital's Rule. But we haven't learned about L'Hôpital's Rule yet, and even if we had, we're not allowed to use it in this class.
 

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