Wednesday 27 March 2013

limits - Derivatives of functions composition: $lim_{xrightarrow 8}frac{root{3}of{x} - 2}{root{3}of{3x+3}-3}$



I have to calculate the folowing:



$$\lim_{x\rightarrow 8}\frac{\root{3}\of{x} - 2}{\root{3}\of{3x+3}-3}$$




I am not allowed to used anything else than the definition of the derivative of a function $f(a)$ with respect to $x$, that is



$$f'(a) = \lim_{x\rightarrow a} \frac{f(x) - f(a)}{x - a}$$



After some thinking I found out we could define two function $g(x) = \frac{x-3}{3}$ and $f(x) = \root{3}\of{3x+3}$ edit: this should actually be $h(x)$



Then $h(g(x)) = \root{3}\of{x}$, and $h(8) = 3\\$ and finally: $h(g(8)) = 2$



If $f(x)$ is the first function (at the beginning), I could now rewrite it's limit as:




$$
\lim_{x\rightarrow 8} \frac{h(g(x)) - h(g(8))}{h(x) - h(8)}
$$
(1)






My question is:



If we note $c(x) = (h(g(x)))$, Does it make sense to write $h(x) \rightarrow h(8)$ under the $lim$ symbol instead of $x\rightarrow 8$? Is the above limit equal to the derivative of $c$ with respect to $h$? Does this even make sense since $h$ is applied "after" $g$?







If I just apply the chain rule:



$$\frac{dc}{dx} = \frac{dc}{dh}\frac{dh}{dx} \Leftrightarrow \frac{dc}{dh} = \frac{dc}{dx}\frac{dx}{dh}$$



then I find a wrong limit:



We are looking for $\frac{dc}{dh}$. So we can calculate




$$
\frac{dc}{dx} = \frac{1}{3\root{3}\of{(3x+3)^2}} \\
\frac{dh}{dx} = \frac{3}{3\root{3}\of{(3x+3)^2}} \\
\Rightarrow \frac{dc}{dh} = \frac{1}{3}
$$



So the limit should be one third, but it actually turns out to be $\frac{3}{4}$.



Why can't we write the limit $(1)$ as $\frac{dc}{dh}$, and more importantly, how can I get the correct limit using the definition of the derivative?







PS: I'm not sure if it's even possible because the exercise doesn't say which method to use (I know it's possible using the factorization of $a^3 - b^3$). I just find it would be really cool to solve the exercise this way






Edit



I have made a mistake on the derivative of $h(g(x)) = \root{3}\of{x}$. I used the chain rule $c'(x) = h'(g(x))\cdot g'(x)$ and that led to a mistake. I should simply have derived $c(x) = \root{3}\of{x}$. So the actual derivative is $\frac{1}{3\root{3}\of{x^2}}$. This leads to the correct limit, as showed in farruhota's answer.


Answer




You want to calculate the limit with the help of a composite function:
$$\lim_{x\rightarrow 8}\frac{\root{3}\of{x} - 2}{\root{3}\of{3x+3}-3}.$$



There are two problems in your solution:



1) You actually implied $f(x)\equiv h(x)$. So, $h(x) = \root{3}\of{3x+3}, g(x) = \frac{x-3}{3}$, then $h(g(x))=\sqrt[3]{x}$ and $h(g(8)) = 2$.



2) The formal definition of the derivative of a composite function is: $\lim_\limits{x\rightarrow a} \frac{h(g(x)) - h(g(a))}{x - a}$. So:
$$\lim_{x\rightarrow 8} \frac{h(g(x)) - h(g(8))}{h(x) - h(8)}=\\
\lim_{x\rightarrow 8} \frac{h(g(x)) - h(g(8))}{x - 8}\cdot \lim_{x\rightarrow 8} \frac{x - 8}{h(x) - h(8)}=\\

(\sqrt[3]{x})'_{x=8}\cdot \left((\sqrt[3]{3x+3})'_{x=8}\right)^{-1} =\\
\frac{1}{3\sqrt[3]{8^2}}\cdot \left(\frac{3}{3\sqrt[3]{(3\cdot 8+3)^2}}\right)^{-1}=\\
\frac1{12}\cdot 9=\frac34.$$


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