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Calculus, all content (2017 edition)
Course: Calculus, all content (2017 edition) > Unit 1
Lesson 5: Formal definition of limits (epsilon-delta)Formal definition of limits Part 3: the definition
Explore the epsilon-delta definition of limits, which states that the limit of f(x) at x=c equals L if, for any ε>0, there's a δ>0 ensuring that when the distance between x and c is less than δ, the distance between f(x) and L is less than ε. This concept captures the idea of getting arbitrarily close to L. Created by Sal Khan.
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- why is epsilon always greater than delta?(30 votes)
- It's not! Sometimes epsilon is greater than delta, sometimes delta is greater than epsilon.(35 votes)
- Why are epsilon and delta must be always GREATER than 0? Why can't both of it be always GREATER or EQUAL to 0?(16 votes)
- Because limits have to do with numbers being within a certain (positive) distance of other numbers, and epsilon and delta are (positive) distances. If the distance between two numbers is zero, the numbers are equal, and so they are trivially within any positive distance of each other, but that is not what the idea of limits is about.(34 votes)
- Is it true if I say that f(c+δ) = L+ε and f(c-δ) = L - ε , for any function ?(13 votes)
- No it is not true. Assume we have a function f(x)=x^2. Obviously, the limit as x->0 is 0, so L=0. We can't have any negative y values, in this function, so there is no such thing as L-ε, because that would be negative.(19 votes)
- Why do we use epsilon and delta and not some other greek letter? Is there a specific reason for using these letters?(9 votes)
- The choice of these letters is arbitrary, but there's a long tradition of using these letters for this purpose. In particular, epsilon is typically used whenever referring to an arbitrarily small amount. The famous mathematician Paul Erdos extended the concept, humorously referring to small children as epsilons.(23 votes)
- Why does he use a < sign rather than a less than or equal to sign to say that x is within delta of c or to say that f(x) is within epsilon of L? Wouldn't the x value at the point (c+or-delta,f(c+or-delta)) be within the required range?(5 votes)
- He uses the < sign because he isn't trying to find the limit, he is just trying to get close to the limit.(4 votes)
- How can we define one-sided limits?
By using "x-c < -d and x < c" or "x-c < d and x > c" instead of "|x-c| < d" ?(4 votes)- I will not formulate the most general way of defining one-sided limits (it requires some knowledge of point-set topology), but suppose
ƒ
is a real-valued function defined on a set containing an open interval of the form(a, b)
, wherea < b
are two real numbers.I)
One says thatƒ
has right-sided limitL
ata
if and only if there for every real numberε > 0
exists a real numberδ > 0
such that|ƒ(x) - L| < ε
for all real numbersx
such thata < x < a + δ
. (This latter condition onx
may be rephrased as0 < x - a < δ
.) In other words, the condition|ƒ(x) - L| < ε
is to hold for allx
in the interval(a, a + δ)
for someδ > 0
.II)
One says thatƒ
has left-sided limitL
atb
if and only if there for every real numberε > 0
exists a real numberδ > 0
such that|ƒ(x) - L| < ε
for all real numbersx
such thatb - δ < x < b
. (This latter condition onx
may be rephrased as-δ < x - b < 0
, i.e.,0 < b - x < δ
.) In other words, the condition|ƒ(x) - L| < ε
is to hold for allx
in the interval(b - δ, b)
for someδ > 0
.
There is a more general notion of one-sided limits. Ifƒ
is defined on a setX
of real numbers, and ifp
is a limit point of the intersection ofX
with(p, +∞)
, we say thatƒ
has right-sided limitL
atp
if and only if for allε > 0
there existsδ > 0
such that|ƒ(x) - L| < ε
for allx
inX
withp < x < p + δ
. One defines left-sided limits similarly.(6 votes)
- Can't there be multiple deltas for an epsilon?(3 votes)
- Let
0 < δ' < δ
be real numbers, and letx
andc
be real numbers. Observe that|x - c| < δ'
implies that|x - c| < δ
. Hence0 < |x - c| < δ'
implies0 < |x - c| < δ
. Therefore, if you have found oneδ
for which the condition holds, then any otherδ'
less thanδ
also works.(8 votes)
- The definition of limits provided assumes that f(x) is defined for all real numbers, but if f(x) is not defined for all real numbers, then ε cannot be any number you want which is greater than zero. If f(x) is not defined on f(c) itself, it's not a problem since x cannot equal c from definition 0 < |x - c| < δ anyway. But perhaps that isn't an issue in practice, since when f(x) is undefined, | f(x) - L | < ε is also undefined, and you can just ignore it? Any clarity as to how this definition can be used in practice would be appreciated. Am I right in thinking this definition does not apply when c=∞ or when L=∞?(2 votes)
- The definition doesn't apply when c or L are infinite because we demand that f(x) have real inputs and outputs, and infinity isn't a real number.
𝜀 can be chosen completely arbitrarily no matter where f(x) is defined. If 𝜀 is very large, larger than the range of f(x), then |f(x)-L| will just be much smaller than 𝜀. So what?(5 votes)
- i understand why we need limits but what is the point of the epsilon delta definition(1 vote)
- Newton could not rigorously prove any of his Calculus despite a lifetime of effort. The way continuous functions are introduced to beginning calculus students is to ask something intuitive like: "As x gets this close to c, how close does f(x) get to f(c)?” This hand-wavy approach gives students an intuitive feel for the topic, but is not useful for rigorous proofs. Many decades after Newton's struggles, the Bohemian mathematician Bolzano turned the question around by asking essentially: "If we want f(x) to get this close to f(c), how close does x have get to c?" This is the basis of the epsilon-delta definition, which finally allowed mathematicians to rigorously prove the calculus invented by Newton (and Leibnitz). It is counter-intuitive to math students at first, but after a while they internalize it and it becomes second nature. Remarkably, over such a long time the smartest mathematicians (including Newton) missed discovering that crucial one-liner definition. Analysis (of which calculus is a part) involves a lot of proving that something is within epsilon of something else. As a footnote, during my school days, another student remarked to me: "Bruce came within epsilon of flunking out last year".(5 votes)
- Cant get this, if x is within delta of c, f(x) will be within epsilon of L. What does it mean?(3 votes)
- It simply means that, If x lies between the range of delta (i.e. c and c + delta AND c and c - delta)
then f(x) (i.e. the value of y) will lie within the range of L and epsilon(i.e. L and L + epsilon AND L and L - epsilon)(1 vote)
Video transcript
In the last video,
we tried to come up with a somewhat rigorous
definition of what a limit is, where we say when you
say that the limit of f of x as x approaches C is
equal L, you're really saying-- and this is the somewhat
rigorous definition-- that you can get f
of x as close as you want to L by making x
sufficiently close to C. So let's see if we can put
a little bit of meat on it. So instead of saying
as close as you want, let's call that some
positive number epsilon. So I'm just going to use the
Greek letter epsilon right over there. So it really turns into a game. So this is the game. You tell me how close you
want f of x to be to L. And you do this by giving me
a positive number that we call epsilon, which is really
how close you want f of x to be to L. So you give
a positive number epsilon. And epsilon is how
close do you want to be? How close? So for example, if
epsilon is 0.01, that says that you want f of x
to be within 0.01 of epsilon. And so what I then
do is I say well, OK. You've given me that epsilon. I'm going to find you another
positive number which we'll call delta-- the lowercase
delta, the Greek letter delta-- such that where
if x is within delta of C, then f of x will be within
epsilon of our limit. So let's see if these are
really saying the same thing. In this yellow definition
right over here, we said you can
get f of x as close as you want to L by making
x sufficiently close to C. This second definition,
which I kind of made as a little bit more of a
game, is doing the same thing. Someone is saying how close
they want f of x to be to L and the burden is then to
find a delta where as long as x is within delta
of C, then f of x will be within
epsilon of the limit. So that is doing it. It's saying look, if we are
constraining x in such a way that if x is in that
range to C, then f of x will be as
close as you want. So let's make this
a little bit clearer by diagramming right over here. You show up and you
say well, I want f of x to be within
epsilon of our limit. This point right over here
is our limit plus epsilon. And this right over here might
be our limit minus epsilon. And you say, OK, sure. I think I can get your f of x
within this range of our limit. And I can do that by
defining a range around C. And I could visually
look at this boundary. But I could even go
narrower than that boundary. I could go right over here. Says OK, I meet your challenge. I will find another
number delta. So this right over
here is C plus delta. This right over here
is C minus-- let me write this down--
is C minus delta. So I'll find you some
delta so that if you take any x in the range
C minus delta to C plus delta-- and maybe
the function's not even defined at C, so
we think of ones that maybe aren't C, but
are getting very close. If you find any x in
that range, f of those x's are going to be as close
as you want to your limit. They're going to be within
the range L plus epsilon or L minus epsilon. So what's another
way of saying this? Another way of saying this
is you give me an epsilon, then I will find you a delta. So let me write this in a
little bit more math notation. So I'll write the
same exact statements with a little bit
more math here. But it's the exact same thing. Let me write it this way. Given an epsilon
greater than 0-- so that's kind of the
first part of the game-- we can find a delta
greater than 0, such that if x is within delta of C. So what's another way of saying
that x is within delta of C? Well, one way you
could say, well, what's the distance
between x and C is going to be less than delta. This statement is true for any
x that's within delta of C. The difference between the two
is going to be less than delta. So that if you pick an x that
is in this range between C minus delta and C
plus delta, and these are the x's that satisfy
that right over here, then-- and I'll do this in
a new color-- then the distance between your
f of x and your limit-- and this is just the
distance between the f of x and the limit, it's going
to be less than epsilon. So all this is saying is, if
the limit truly does exist, it truly is L, is if you give
me any positive number epsilon, it could be super, super small
one, we can find a delta. So we can define
a range around C so that if we take
any x value that is within delta of C,
that's all this statement is saying that the
distance between x and C is less than delta. So it's within delta
of C. So that's these points right over here. That f of those
x's, the function evaluated at those x's is
going to be within the range that you are specifying. It's going to be within
epsilon of our limit. The f of x, the difference
between f of x, and your limit will be less than epsilon. Your f of x is going to
sit some place over there. So that's all the epsilon-delta
definition is telling us. In the next video, we will
prove that a limit exists by using this
definition of limits.