calculus - Why does L'Hôpital's rule work for sequences?

Say, for the classic example, $\frac{\log(n)}{n}$, this sequence converges to zero, from applying L'Hôpital's rule. Why does it work in the discrete setting, when the rule is about differentiable functions?

Is it because at infinity, it doesn't matter that we relabel the discrete variable, $n$, with a continuous variable, $x$, and instead look at the limit of $\frac{\log(x)}{x}$?

But then what about the quotients of sequences that go to the indeterminate form $\frac{0}{0}$? Why is it OK to use L'Hôpital's rule, as $n$ goes to zero?

I haven't found anything on Wikipedia or Wolfram about the discrete setting.

Thanks.

Answer

There IS a L'Hospital's rule for sequences called Stolz-Cesàro theorem. If you have an indeterminate form, then:

$$\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} \frac{s_n}{t_n}=\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} \frac{s_n-s_{n-1}}{t_n-t_{n-1}}$$

So for your example:

$$\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}\frac{\ln(n)}{n}=\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}\frac{\ln\left(\frac{n}{n-1}\right)}{n-n+1}=\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}\ln\left(\frac{n}{n-1}\right)=0$$

But that isn't your question. Your question is, why do people "differentiate"? Basically because the real case covers the discrete case.

Recall the definition of limits for real and discrete cases.

Definition. A sequence, $s_n\colon \Bbb{N}\to \Bbb{R},$ converges to $L$ as $n\to\infty$, written $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} s_n=L$ iff for all $\epsilon>0$ there is some $N$ such that for all $n\in \Bbb{N}$ with $n>N$, $|s_n-L|<\epsilon$.

Definition. A function, $f(x) \colon \Bbb{R}\to \Bbb{R}$ converges to $L$ as $x\to\infty$, written $\lim\limits_{x\to\infty} f(x)=L$ iff for all $\epsilon>0$ there is some $X$ such that for all $x\in \Bbb{R}$ with $x>X$, $|f(x)-L|<\epsilon$.

So if $f(x)$ is a real valued function that agrees with a sequence, $s_n$ on integer values, then $\lim\limits_{x\to\infty} f(x)=L$ implies $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} s_n=L$.