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Rewriting an infinity-minus-infinity limit and applying L'Hopital's Rule

Evaluate the limit lim⁡x→0+(1x−1sin⁡(x)).\lim_{x \to 0^+} \left( \frac{1}{x} - \frac{1}{\sin(x)} \right). Note that this limit initially has the indeterminate form ∞−∞\infty - \infty. Combine the two fractions into a single fraction first, then determine whether L'Hopital's Rule can be applied, and use it (possibly more than once) to find the value of the limit.

Hint

Combine the two terms over a common denominator to get sin⁡(x)−xxsin⁡(x)\dfrac{\sin(x) - x}{x\sin(x)}. Check that this new expression is 0/00/0 as x→0+x \to 0^+, then differentiate the numerator and denominator separately — you may need to apply L'Hopital's Rule twice before the indeterminate form disappears.

Step-by-step solution

First combine the fractions over a common denominator: 1x−1sin⁡(x)=sin⁡(x)−xxsin⁡(x).\frac{1}{x} - \frac{1}{\sin(x)} = \frac{\sin(x) - x}{x\sin(x)}. As x→0+x \to 0^+, both the numerator sin⁡(x)−x→0\sin(x)-x \to 0 and the denominator xsin⁡(x)→0x\sin(x) \to 0, so this is now the indeterminate form 0/00/0, and L'Hopital's Rule applies.

Differentiating numerator and denominator separately gives lim⁡x→0+cos⁡(x)−1sin⁡(x)+xcos⁡(x).\lim_{x\to 0^+} \frac{\cos(x) - 1}{\sin(x) + x\cos(x)}. Substituting x=0x=0 again gives 0/00/0, so we apply L'Hopital's Rule a second time: differentiating again gives lim⁡x→0+−sin⁡(x)2cos⁡(x)−xsin⁡(x).\lim_{x\to 0^+} \frac{-\sin(x)}{2\cos(x) - x\sin(x)}. Now substituting x=0x=0 gives 02=0\frac{0}{2} = 0, which is no longer indeterminate, so the limit equals 00.

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