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Left-hand limit at t = 60

A parking garage charges a toll fee based on how long a car stays. The fee is modeled by the piecewise function g(t)={5if t<608if t≥60g(t) = \begin{cases} 5 & \text{if } t < 60 \\ 8 & \text{if } t \ge 60 \end{cases} where tt is the number of minutes parked and g(t)g(t) is the fee in dollars.

Evaluate lim⁡t→60−g(t)\displaystyle \lim_{t \to 60^-} g(t).

Hint

For tt approaching 60 from the left, tt is slightly less than 60. Which piece of the definition applies to those values of tt?

Step-by-step solution

As t→60−t \to 60^-, we are considering values of tt that are slightly less than 60, such as 59, 59.9, 59.99, and so on. For all such values, t<60t < 60, so the applicable rule is g(t)=5g(t) = 5.

Since g(t)=5g(t) = 5 for every value of tt in this range, the fee does not change as tt gets closer and closer to 60 from below. Therefore lim⁡t→60−g(t)=5\lim_{t \to 60^-} g(t) = 5.

Right-hand limit at t = 60

Evaluate lim⁡t→60+g(t)\displaystyle \lim_{t \to 60^+} g(t).

Hint

For tt approaching 60 from the right, tt is slightly greater than or equal to 60. Which piece of the definition applies to those values of tt?

Step-by-step solution

As t→60+t \to 60^+, we consider values of tt slightly greater than 60, such as 60.01, 60.001, and so on. For all such values, t≥60t \ge 60, so the applicable rule is g(t)=8g(t) = 8.

Since g(t)=8g(t) = 8 throughout this range, the fee stays at 8 as tt approaches 60 from above. Therefore lim⁡t→60+g(t)=8\lim_{t \to 60^+} g(t) = 8.

Existence of the two-sided limit

Based on your results from the left-hand and right-hand limits, does lim⁡t→60g(t)\displaystyle \lim_{t \to 60} g(t) exist? Justify your answer and state the value if it exists.

Hint

Recall that a two-sided limit exists exactly when both one-sided limits exist and are equal to each other.

Step-by-step solution

From the previous parts, lim⁡t→60−g(t)=5\lim_{t \to 60^-} g(t) = 5 and lim⁡t→60+g(t)=8\lim_{t \to 60^+} g(t) = 8. These are the left-hand and right-hand limits of gg at t=60t = 60.

Since a two-sided limit exists only when both one-sided limits are equal, and here 5≠85 \ne 8, the limit lim⁡t→60g(t)\lim_{t \to 60} g(t) does not exist.

Comparing the one-sided limit values

Hint
Step-by-step solution

The left-hand limit at t equals sixty was found to be five dollars, while the right-hand limit was found to be eight dollars.

Since eight is greater than five, the right-hand limit is greater than the left-hand limit.

This makes sense because the toll jumps up once the parked time reaches sixty minutes.

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