Indeterminate Forms and L’Hospital’s Rule Pre-reading Exercise Based on:: Stewert, J. (2008). Calculus: Early Transcendentals (6th ed.), pp , 307. Belmont, CA: Thomson
1. What do you know about limits in mathematics? Before reading this text, you need to understand the concept of a limit.
2. What happens to the value of 1/x when x gets very near zero?
3. What is the meaning of f(x)?
4. Open the reading passage and look through it quickly to find the part that introduces L’Hospital’s Rule. Who discovered the rule?
Before beginning to read, study the questions on the next slide. As you read, look for the answers to these questions.
What is an indeterminate form? What are the two types of indeterminate form? Express in words the general case of a limit that results in an indeterminate form of type 0/0. Can some limits of this kind be solved without using L’Hospital’s Rule? What conditions must apply in order for L’Hospital’s Rule to be used?
Now read the text through to the end.