Differential and Integral Calculus by Feliciano and Uy, Exercise 1.3, Problem 9

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PROBLEM:

Evaluate \displaystyle \lim\limits_{x\to 4}\left(\frac{\frac{1}{x}-\frac{1}{4}}{x-4\:}\right).


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SOLUTION:

A straight substitution of x=4 leads to the indeterminate form \frac{0}{0} which is meaningless.

Therefore, to evaluate the limit of the given function, we proceed as follows:

\begin{align*}
\\
 \lim\limits_{x\to 4}\left(\frac{\frac{1}{x}-\frac{1}{4}}{x-4}\right)& =\lim\limits_{x\to 4}\left(\frac{\frac{4-x}{4x}}{x-4}\right)\\
\\
& =\lim\limits_{x\to 4}\frac{4-x}{4x\left(x-4\right)}\\
\\

&=\lim\limits_{x\to 4}\left(\frac{4-x}{-4x\left(4-x\right)}\right)\\
\\

& =\lim\limits_{x\to 4}-\frac{1}{4x}\\
\\

& =-\frac{1}{4\cdot 4}\\
\\

& =-\frac{1}{16} \ \qquad \ \color{DarkOrange} \left( \text{Answer} \right)\\
\\
\end{align*}

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