Limit at infinity of a combined trig/rational function
Consider the function
Evaluate and use your result to state the horizontal asymptote of (if one exists) as .
Hint
Handle each term separately: think about what happens to as and what of that approaches. For the rational term, compare the degrees of the numerator and denominator, or divide both by .
Step-by-step solution
As , , so . This handles the first term.
For the second term, divide numerator and denominator by : as . Adding the two results gives , so the limit is and is a horizontal asymptote of as .
Value of the horizontal asymptote
Hint
Step-by-step solution
The limit computed in part a was four, since the cosine term approached one and the rational term approached three. Adding these gives four. Therefore g of x approaches the number four as x approaches positive infinity, matching the horizontal asymptote y equals four.
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