L'Hospital's rule

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November 19th 2009, 06:36 PM
Eternal

L'Hospital's rule

I'm having a difficulty differentiating this using L'Hospital's rule:

lim x->(infinite) xsin(pi/x)

Applying L'Hospital's rule and differentiating I got:

lim x->(infinite) xcos(pi/x) + sin(pi/x)

and that equals = (infinite)(1) + 0 = infinite

The correct answer in my textbook is just "pi"

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
November 19th 2009, 06:40 PM
Alterah

If your function is: $x*sin\frac{\pi}{x}$ then this isn't in the form of 0/0 or infinity/infinity and therefore you can't use L'Hopital's rule.
November 19th 2009, 06:42 PM
lvleph

Well, to use L'Hospital you must have an indefinite form. Second you differentiate each part seperately. Make sure you check what the indefinite forms are.
November 19th 2009, 06:42 PM
Eternal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alterah

If your function is: $x*sin\frac{\pi}{x}$ then this isn't in the form of 0/0 or infinity/infinity and therefore you can't use L'Hopital's rule.

Well, then can you explain why the answer is pi?
November 19th 2009, 06:50 PM
Haven

But the function is of indeterminate form. I.e, $0*\infty$ so we can rewrite the limit so it is of the form $\frac{0}{0}$

$x\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}} = \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}}$

we see $\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}} = \frac{0}{0}$

apply L'Hospital's Rule
$\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}} =<br /> \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\frac{-\pi}{x^{2}}\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{-1}{x^{2}}} = \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \pi\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}}$

Since $\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{1}{x} = 0$

$\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \pi\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}} = 1*\pi$
November 19th 2009, 06:52 PM
Alterah

Haven, you beat me to it. Took me a second to realize that it was actually an indeterminate form.
November 19th 2009, 06:53 PM
lvleph

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haven

But the function is of indeterminate form. I.e, $0*\infty$ so we can rewrite the limit so it is of the form $\frac{0}{0}$

$x\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}} = \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}}$

we see $\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}} = \frac{0}{0}$

apply L'Hospital's Rule
$\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\sin{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{1}{x}} =<br /> \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{\frac{-\pi}{x^{2}}\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}}}{\frac{-1}{x^{2}}} = \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \pi\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}}$

Since $\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{1}{x} = 0$

$\lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \pi\cos{\frac{\pi}{x}} = 1*\pi$

The problem wasn't but could be transformed into indeterminate form. I was hoping the OP would see how to transform it, and then solve the problem.
November 19th 2009, 07:00 PM
Eternal

Quote:

Originally Posted by lvleph

The problem wasn't but could be transformed into indeterminate form. I was hoping the OP would see how to transform it, and then solve the problem.

Thanks man. Didn't know you had to transform it like that. I've just started learning this subject.
November 19th 2009, 07:03 PM
lvleph

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eternal

Thanks man. Didn't know you had to transform it like that. I've just started learning this subject.

Notice that the problem is exactly the same, but has been manipulated so that it looks different and you get one of the indeterminate forms.
November 19th 2009, 07:24 PM
Eternal

Another question I'm confused on:

lim x->0+ Sin(x)lnx

How would I solve this? ln(0) is undefined...
November 19th 2009, 07:31 PM
lvleph

Make the substitution $\ln x = u$ . Then we have $\lim_{u \to -\infty}\sin (e^{u}) u$ .