University Calculus: Early Transcendentals (3rd Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321999584
ISBN 13: 978-0-32199-958-0

Chapter 2 - Section 2.3 - The Precise Definition of a Limit - Exercises - Page 75: 12

Answer

$\delta=\frac{\sqrt5-2}{2}$

Work Step by Step

Find a $\delta\gt0$ such that for all $x$ $$0\lt |x-(-1)|\lt\delta\Rightarrow|f(x)-3|\lt0.25$$ Looking at the graphs, we can see that for values of $f(x)$ to be restricted between $2.75$ and $3.25$ (which means $|f(x)-3|\lt0.25$), $x$ must be placed between $-\sqrt5/2$ and $-\sqrt3/2$. - Calculate the distance from $-1$ to $-\sqrt5/2$ and $-\sqrt3/2$: $-1-(-\frac{\sqrt5}{2})=-1+\frac{\sqrt5}{2}=\frac{\sqrt5-2}{2}\approx0.118$ $(-\frac{\sqrt3}{2})-(-1)=-\frac{\sqrt3}{2}+1=\frac{2-\sqrt3}{2}\approx0.134$ So we would go with the nearer endpoint, which is $-\sqrt5/2$ and take $\delta$ to be $\frac{\sqrt5-2}{2}$ ( or any smaller positive number is fine). Therefore, $$0\lt |x-(-1)|\lt\frac{\sqrt5-2}{2}\Rightarrow|f(x)-3|\lt0.25$$
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