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Evaluating a 0/0 limit using L'Hopital's Rule

Evaluate the limit lim⁡x→0x−sin⁡(x)x3\lim_{x \to 0} \frac{x - \sin(x)}{x^3} using L'Hopital's Rule. Be sure to verify that the indeterminate form applies before each differentiation.

Hint

Check that substituting x=0x=0 gives 0/00/0. Then differentiate the numerator and denominator separately (not using the quotient rule), and check again whether the new limit is still indeterminate before differentiating again.

Step-by-step solution

Substituting x=0x=0 gives 0−sin⁡(0)03=00\frac{0-\sin(0)}{0^3} = \frac{0}{0}, so the form is indeterminate and L'Hopital's Rule applies. Differentiating numerator and denominator separately gives 1−cos⁡(x)3x2\frac{1-\cos(x)}{3x^2}. Substituting x=0x=0 again gives 1−10=00\frac{1-1}{0} = \frac{0}{0}, still indeterminate, so we apply L'Hopital's Rule again.

Differentiating again gives sin⁡(x)6x\frac{\sin(x)}{6x}. Substituting x=0x=0 gives 00\frac{0}{0} once more, so we apply L'Hopital's Rule a third time, differentiating to get cos⁡(x)6\frac{\cos(x)}{6}. Now substituting x=0x=0 gives 16\frac{1}{6}, which is not indeterminate, so the limit equals 16\frac{1}{6}.

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