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Series: Calculus: Limits

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About this Series

  • Lessons: 12
  • Total Time: 2h 26m
  • Use: Watch Online & Download
  • Access Period: Unlimited
  • Created At: 07/29/2009
  • Last Updated At: 10/27/2011

In this 12-lesson series, Professor Burger will introduce limits, define them formally, explain how you can evaluate them, cover an assortment of limit laws that will help you in evaluating them, and talk about more advanced concepts related to limits, including the Squeeze Theorem, indeterminate forms, one-sided limits, and function continuity or discontinuity.

In algebra, you consider how a function is defined at specific points. In calculus, you can consider the value a function approaches around a specific point. The limit is the range value that a function is tending towards as you get closer to a particular domain value. If a function approaches the same value from both directions, then that value is the limit of the function at that point. If the function approaches different values, then the limit is undefined.

The concept of a limit can be expressed exactly by describing it in terms of tiny neighborhoods that are mapped around a point. Since limits are just numbers, a lot of the properties of real numbers also apply to limits. There are rules governing the limit of a sum, the limit of a difference, the limit of a product, and the limit of a quotient. In addition to covering each of these in this lesson, we'll also look at the scalar multiple rule for limits and the power rule for limits. Additionally, you'll learn about rules that govern the limit of a constant, limits of a function x, limit of a function x^n (or raised to any fixed value, n), the limit of polynomial functions (like 2x^2-4x+7), the limit of rational functions (the quotient of two polynomials), and the limit of functions expressed with radicals (e.g. the nth root of x). Additionally, this lesson will explain and demonstrate the power law for limits (for raising expressions to an exponential power) and the root law for limits.

It is sometimes useful to examine limits from strictly the left or right side. Such limits are one-sided limits. A left-handed limit is the value the function approaches only from the left (increasing). A right-handed limit is the value the function approaches only from the right (decreasing). A limit exists only if the left-handed and right-handed limits both exist and are equal.

Taught by Professor Edward Burger, this series comes from a comprehensive Calculus course. This course and others are available from Thinkwell, Inc. The full course can be found at http://www.thinkwell.com/student/product/calculus. The full course covers limits, derivatives, implicit differentiation, integration or antidifferentiation, L'Hopital's Rule, functions and their inverses, improper integrals, integral calculus, differential calculus, sequences, series, differential equations, parametric equations, polar coordinates, vector calculus and a variety of other AP Calculus, College Calculus and Calculus II topics.

About this Author

Thinkwell
Thinkwell
2174 lessons
Joined:
11/13/2008

Founded in 1997, Thinkwell has succeeded in creating "next-generation" textbooks that help students learn and teachers teach. Capitalizing on the power of new technology, Thinkwell products prepare students more effectively for their coursework than any printed textbook can. Thinkwell has assembled a group of talented industry professionals who have shaped the company into the leading provider of technology-based textbooks. For more information about Thinkwell, please visit www.thinkwell.com or visit Thinkwell's Video Lesson Store at http://thinkwell.mindbites.com/.

Thinkwell lessons feature a star-studded cast of outstanding university professors: Edward Burger (Pre-Algebra through...

Lessons Included

Nopic_blu
Great job!
01/19/2013
~ smgann

Thought the instructor did a great job explaining limits.

Nopic_blu
Limits with square roots and unfactorable ratio...
09/08/2012
~ Jodi7

Very helpful!
It's been over ten years since I sat in Calculus and now I have been thrown last minute into teaching it. These videos are exactly what I need to teach well and have my students learn.

9-21-2007-06_homepage
Finally!
02/09/2011
~ JMacy

Limits finally make sense to me! I was having a hard time wondering why we would want to find the limit of a function but thanks to the Doctor here, I finally understand it and appreciate it that much more.

Nopic_grn
AAA+++++++
04/22/2010
~ joel8

He is ALWAYS GREAT!!!! MUST WATCH!! THANK YOU!!!! Hopefully people can truly appreciate how rare it is to have the ability to watch one of the best professors utilize all skills of teaching to produce such power packed lessons that stick in the brain. Every detail is thought of in the video presentation. THANKS AGAIN!

Nopic_orng
The Limit Law, Part II
09/30/2009
~ Ferddy

GREAT!

Jfilip_homepage
I love this guy
08/05/2009
~ jfilip

This guy is a great teacher. The limit problems he is doing once made me cringe but they seem much more manageable now. Still a little scary, but I know how to tackle them now. Great lesson.

Nopic_tan
This totally cleared up any confusion I had wit...
07/17/2009
~ brittanie

Undefined limits are awful! I'm so glad there is an online video tutorial explaining this to me in baby steps. Very thorough instructions using two examples on how to find the limit of a square root function. Totally happy with my purchase. Thanks!

Below are the descriptions for each of the lessons included in the series:

Supplementary Files: