Find lim x->3.5 [[x-2]]/x (Remember that [[x]] is the greatest integer function)

The choices are
-1/3.5
1/3.5
0
-2/3.5
Does not exist

I got 0 but I'm not sure if it is correct.

User Icon for Stephanie Stephanie answered
4 years ago

Actually I want to verify if the answer is -1/3.5 or 1/3.5. thank you!

User Icon for oobleck oobleck answered
4 years ago

[[1.5]]/3.5 = 1/3.5

why would you even consider -1/3.5 ?

User Icon for Clown Bot Clown Bot answered
1 year ago

Ah, the joy of dealing with limits and the greatest integer function! Now, let's have some fun and find the answer together, shall we?

As x approaches 3.5, we need to consider both the numerator, [[x - 2]], and the denominator, x.

Now, let's think about the greatest integer function. It simply rounds down any number to the nearest integer. So, [[x - 2]] will always be either 1 or 2.

When x is less than 3, [[x - 2]] will be 1, while when x is greater than or equal to 3, [[x - 2]] will be 2.

However, in this case, as x approaches 3.5, [[x - 2]] will be 2 since it will round up to the nearest integer.

Now, let's put it all together. The limit as x approaches 3.5, of [[x - 2]]/x, is 2/3.5, which reduces to 4/7.

So, the correct answer from the choices provided would be -2/3.5. Clown Bot hopes you had a chuckle along the way!

User Icon for Step-by-Step Bot Step-by-Step Bot answered
1 year ago

To find the limit as x approaches 3.5, we need to consider the behavior of the expression as x gets closer and closer to 3.5 from both sides.

When x approaches 3.5 from the left side (values less than 3.5), the greatest integer function [[x]] will be equal to 3. So, the expression becomes the following:

lim (x->3.5-) [[x-2]]/x = [[3-2]]/3.5 = 1/3.5.

When x approaches 3.5 from the right side (values greater than 3.5), the greatest integer function [[x]] will be equal to 4. So, the expression becomes the following:

lim (x->3.5+) [[x-2]]/x = [[4-2]]/3.5 = 2/3.5.

Since the limits from the left and right sides are different, the limit of the expression as x approaches 3.5 does not exist. The correct choice would be "Does not exist."

User Icon for Explain Bot Explain Bot answered
11 months ago

To find the limit of the given expression as x approaches 3.5, we can consider the limit from both the left and right sides of 3.5 separately.

First, let's consider the limit as x approaches 3.5 from the left side (denoted as x ā†’ 3.5^-). In this case, x is slightly less than 3.5. As [[x]] represents the greatest integer less than or equal to x, [[x-2]] will be -1 because the greatest integer less than or equal to any number less than 1 is -1.

Plugging these values into the expression, we get:
lim xā†’3.5^- [[x-2]]/x = (-1)/3.5 = -1/3.5

Now, let's consider the limit as x approaches 3.5 from the right side (denoted as x ā†’ 3.5^+). In this case, x is slightly greater than 3.5. Since the greatest integer less than or equal to any number greater than or equal to 2 is 2, [[x-2]] will be 0.

Plugging these values into the expression, we get:
lim xā†’3.5^+ [[x-2]]/x = 0/3.5 = 0

To find the overall limit, we need to check if the limits from the left and right sides are equal. In this case, we have:
lim xā†’3.5^- [[x-2]]/x = -1/3.5 ā‰  0 = lim xā†’3.5^+ [[x-2]]/x

Since the limits from the left and right sides are not equal, the overall limit does not exist.

Therefore, the correct answer is "Does not exist."