An Example of a Limit


Notice that the expression sin(x)/x is undefined when x = 0. Let's take a look at its graph:

Graph of sin(x)/x

It appears that as x tends to 0, the values of the expression sin(x)/x approach 1. This value is called the limit of the expression as x approaches 0. Let's compute the limit using Maple.

> limit(sin(x)/x,x=0);

1


Thus, we see that the limit of sin(x)/x as x approaches 0 is 1.


Professor Ianni's Home Page