MAT01A1:

Limits at Infinity & Horizontal Asymptotes

Chapter 2.6 (Stewart Calculus)

So far, we have looked very closely at
problems like:
lim f (x)
x→a
Now we want to consider what happens when

x→∞ and x → −∞.

That is, we want to see what happens when

x gets very large or very small. We can’t
substitute x = ∞ or x = −∞ into our
functions, so we must use different
techniques.
Here are some examples of curves that
approach a limit as x → ∞ and x → −∞.
x2 − 1
Consider the function f (x) = 2 .
x +1
 sin x
Consider f (x) = as x → ∞ and x → −∞.
x
Consider f (x) = arctan x as x → ∞ and x → −∞.
We will read the expression

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

as:
“the limit of f (x) as x tends to infinity is L”.
Another way of thinking about

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

is: the values of f (x) can be made arbitrarily

close to L by taking x sufficiently large.
Very important: when we write

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

we are not saying that f (∞) = L!

Remember that ∞ is not a real number and
therefore we cannot substitute it into the
function f .
Of course we are also interested in the limit
of a function as x becomes very small, i.e. as
x approaches −∞.
For example: f (x) = ex and lim f (x).
x→−∞
Before we introduce some different methods
for calculating limits at infinity, let us look at
the graphs of our earlier examples and
express what we saw there in terms of limits.
 x2 − 1 x2 − 1
lim =1 and lim =1
x→∞ x2 + 1 x→−∞ x2 + 1
 sin x sin x
lim =0 and lim =0
x→∞ x x→−∞ x
 π −π
lim arctan x = and lim arctan x =
x→∞ 2 x→−∞ 2
Consider f (x) = ex.

lim ex = 0
x→−∞
On the next two slides, we give definitions of
the limit as x approaches positive infinity,
and the limit as x approaches negative
infinity. Once we have those two definitions,
we can define horizontal asymptotes.
Let f be a function defined on some
interval (a, ∞). Then

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

means that the values of f (x) can be

made arbitrarily close to L by requiring x
to be sufficiently large.
Let f be a function defined on some
interval (−∞, a). Then

lim f (x) = L
x→−∞

means that the values of f (x) can be

made arbitrarily close to L by requiring x
to be a sufficiently large negative number.
Definition: the line y = L is called a
horizontal asymptote of the curve
y = f (x) if either

lim f (x) = L or lim f (x) = L

x→∞ x→−∞
Notice that by the definition on the previous
slide, a curve is allowed to touch or cross a
horizontal asymptote. This is exactly what
sin x
happens for f (x) = where y = 0 is a
x
horizontal asymptote.
Remember: Limit Laws
The limit laws for

lim f (x)
x→a

were given on page 95 (Laws 1 – 5) and

page 96–97 (Laws 6 – 11). All of these laws
apply when ∞ or −∞ is substituted for a,
except Laws 9 and 10.
For example, Law 1 for Limits at Infinity is
the following:

Suppose that lim f (x) and lim g(x)

x→∞ x→∞
both exist. Then

lim [f (x)+g(x)] = lim f (x)+ lim g(x)

x→∞ x→∞ x→∞

Note: the fact that lim f (x) and lim g(x)

x→∞ x→∞
are both required to exist is very important.
Our main technique for calculating limits as
x → ∞ and x → −∞ is to use the fact
that in any fraction, if the value of the
denominator increases while the numerator
remains constant, then the value of the
fraction decreases.
1
Example: f (x) =
x
If x = 10, then f (x) = 0.1
If x = 100, then f (x) = 0.01
If x = 1000, then f (x) = 0.001
If x = 1, 000, 000, then f (x) = 0.000001
Consider the calculations on the previous
slide and the graph of f (x) = x1 .

1 1
We see that lim = 0 and lim = 0.
x→∞ x x→−∞ x
 Theorem: If r > 0 is rational, then
1
lim = 0.
x→∞ xr
Also, if r > 0 is a rational number such
that xr is defined for all x, then
1
lim = 0.
x→−∞ xr

In particular:
1 1 1
lim = 0 lim =0 lim =0
x→∞ x x→∞ x2 x→−∞ x
Example:
3x2 − x − 2
Evaluate the limit lim .
x→∞ 5x2 + 4x + 1
 3x2 − x − 2
Below is the graph of f (x) = 2 .
5x + 4x + 1

We see that the y-values approach 0.6 when

x is large and also when x is small.
Example: find the vertical and horizontal
asymptotes of the graph of the function
√
2x2 + 1
f (x) = .
3x − 5
Facts about square roots

Here we are interested

√ in what happens when
we calculate x2.
√
Recall that |x| = x2.
√
If x ⩾ 0 then x2 = |x| = x.
√
However, if x < 0, then x2 = |x| = −x.
Let us just emphasize that last point again.
If x < 0, i.e. x is a negative number, then
we have √
x2 = |x| = −x.
√
Therefore, for x < 0, we get x = − x2.
Think about why this is true: the LHS of the
red equation is negative (because we started
with x < 0), so the RHS must also be
negative. The output of the square root
function
√ is always ⩾ 0, so we must multiply
x2 by −1 to ensure the RHS is negative.
 √
2x2 + 1
Below is the graph of f (x) = .
3x − 5

We can see the H.A.’s and the V.A.

Another powers under roots example
√
2x2 + 1
In our previous example f (x) = , it
3x − 5
was easy to identify the “highest power of x
in the denominator”.
Now consider the following example:
4x2 − 3x + 6
lim √
x→∞ x4 − 7x3 + 2
Here, the “highest power of x in the
denominator” is x2 because we have x4
under a square root.
More techniques for calculating limits
What do we do if we have two functions
subtracted from one another but cannot tell
how they grow relative to one another as
x → ∞?

√
Example: lim ( x2 + 1 − x)
x→∞

To help us see what is happening as x → ∞,

we multiply above and below by the
conjugate radical.
 √
Below is the graph of f (x) = x2 + 1 − x.
VERY IMPORTANT

We cannot calculate the previous limit by

“substituting ∞”. It would be totally
incorrect to write
√ 
lim 2
x + 1 − x = ∞ − ∞ = 0.
x→∞

When we write x → ∞ we are saying that

“x keeps getting bigger”, not “x = ∞”.
Using substitution in limit calculations

Two examples:  
1
1. lim arctan
x→2+ x−2
2. lim e(1/x)
x→0−
Infinite Limits at Infinity
Infinite limits at infinity
As we saw in the previous example, limits at
infinity do not exist for all functions. In many
cases these limits will be infinite. Consider
lim x3 and lim x3.
x→∞ x→−∞
To solve these limits, you can either use the
graph of f (x) = x3 or just think about what
happens to the value of x3 as x gets very big
(or very small). We get:
lim x3 = ∞ and lim x3 = −∞.
x→∞ x→−∞
Examples of infinite limits at infinity
1. Find lim (x2 − x).
x→∞
2. Find lim (x3 + 200x2).
x→−∞
x2 + x
3. Find lim .
x→∞ 3 − x

Do not be tempted to “substitute x = ∞”

into the first one!
Exercises:
√ √
1. lim ( x + x + 1)
x→∞
√
2. lim 2−x
x→−∞
 
1 1
3. lim √ −
x→0+ x x
 
1
4. lim 1 +
x→0+ x
Precise Definitions
Just like we had a precise definition of the
limit lim f (x) in Chapter 2.4, we also have a
x→a
precise definition of limits at infinity.
Precise definition: let f be a function
defined on some interval (a, ∞). Then

lim f (x) = L
x→∞

means that for every ε > 0 there exists a

corresponding N such that:

if x > N then |f (x) − L| < ε.

Example: Prove (using the precise
1
definition) that lim = 0.
x→∞ x
Below is the precise definition for when x → −∞.

Precise definition: let f be a function

defined on some interval (−∞, a). Then

lim f (x) = L
x→−∞

means that for every ε > 0 there exists a

corresponding N such that:

if x < N then |f (x) − L| < ε.

We also have a precise definition for infinite
limits at infinity.

Precise definition – Infinite Limit:

Let f be a function defined on some
interval (a, ∞). Then

lim f (x) = ∞
x→∞
means that for every positive number M ,
there exists N such that:

if x > N then f (x) > M.

Prescribed tut problems
▶ Chapter 2.6:
3, 4, 5, 9
(these four questions are a very good
test of your understanding of the
fundamental concepts of this section)
15, 17, 25, 26, 29, 37, 39, 41, 47, 58