Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Proving limit doesn't exist using the epsilon-delta definition



I want to find out lim. Now, this doesn't exist, but I'm not sure how to transform the definition of limit to something that lets me prove that the limit doesn't exist. This is the definition I use, for the record:




We say that \displaystyle\lim_{x \to +\infty} f(x) = l if \forall \epsilon > 0, \exists M > 0 such that x > M \implies |f(x)-l| < \epsilon.




This isn't exactly \epsilon-\delta, it's more like \epsilon - M, but it's the same idea. My problem is: how to use this to prove that the limit doesn't exist? I know that I would have to begin like this:





We say that \displaystyle\lim_{x \to +\infty} f(x) doesn't exist if
\exists \epsilon>0 such that \forall M > 0 . . .




And I don't know how to continue.



Edit: I want to clarify something: while I am indeed trying to prove the nonexistence of \displaystyle\lim_{x \to +\infty} x \sin x, the point of this question was to be able to use the definition to prove the nonexistence of any limit, not just this one.


Answer



\lim\limits_{x\rightarrow\infty} f(x)\ne L would mean that there is an \epsilon>0 such that for any M>0, there is an x>M so that |f(x)-L|\ge \epsilon.




To use the above to show that \lim\limits_{x\rightarrow\infty} f(x) does not exist, you would have to show that \lim\limits_{x\rightarrow\infty} f(x)\ne L for any number L.



For your purposes, with f(x)=x\sin x, let L be any number. We will show that \lim\limits_{x\rightarrow\infty} f(x)\ne L. Towards this end, take \epsilon=1. Now fix a value of M. Using Alex's answer, you can find an x>M so that |f(x)-L|\ge1.



Thus \lim\limits_{x\rightarrow\infty} f(x) does not exist.



(The limit might be infinite (it isn't, see Alex's answer again); but this is another matter...)


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