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Limit at infinity via L'Hopital's Rule

Consider the function g(x)=3x2+2x5x2−7g(x) = \dfrac{3x^2 + 2x}{5x^2 - 7}.

Evaluate lim⁡x→∞3x2+2x5x2−7\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{3x^2 + 2x}{5x^2 - 7} using L'Hopital's Rule. Verify that the limit is in an indeterminate form before applying the rule, and show the result of each differentiation step.

Hint

First substitute to confirm you get ∞/∞\infty/\infty. Then differentiate the numerator and denominator separately (not with the quotient rule) and take the limit again. If it's still indeterminate, repeat the process.

Step-by-step solution

As x→∞x \to \infty, both the numerator 3x2+2x→∞3x^2+2x \to \infty and the denominator 5x2−7→∞5x^2 - 7 \to \infty, so the limit has the indeterminate form ∞/∞\infty/\infty, and L'Hopital's Rule applies. Differentiating numerator and denominator separately gives ddx(3x2+2x)=6x+2\frac{d}{dx}(3x^2+2x) = 6x+2 and ddx(5x2−7)=10x\frac{d}{dx}(5x^2-7) = 10x, so the limit becomes lim⁡x→∞6x+210x\lim_{x\to\infty} \dfrac{6x+2}{10x}.

This new limit is still of the form ∞/∞\infty/\infty, so L'Hopital's Rule is applied again: differentiating gives ddx(6x+2)=6\frac{d}{dx}(6x+2) = 6 and ddx(10x)=10\frac{d}{dx}(10x) = 10, yielding lim⁡x→∞610=35\lim_{x\to\infty} \dfrac{6}{10} = \dfrac{3}{5}. Therefore lim⁡x→∞3x2+2x5x2−7=35\lim_{x \to \infty} \dfrac{3x^2+2x}{5x^2-7} = \dfrac{3}{5}.

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