Calculus 10th Edition

Published by Brooks Cole
ISBN 10: 1-28505-709-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-28505-709-5

Chapter 1 - Limits and Their Properties - 1.2 Exercises - Page 57: 51

Answer

Domain at $$[-5,4) \cup (4, \infty)$$ Undefined point, or hole, at $$(4,\frac{1}{6})$$

Work Step by Step

First off, the general function for this equation is $$f(x)=\frac{\sqrt{x+5}-3}{x-4}$$ Since the limit is when "x is approaching 4", which can be written as $$\underset{x\rightarrow 4}{\lim}$$ that would mean that there will be an undefined point at $(4,y)$ since $4-4=0$ and anything with a denominator of $0$ is undefined. So, since the function at the given limit is going to be undefined, then the first we can do is rationalize the numerator, which means you can multiply by $\sqrt{x+5}+3$, which is the conjugate of $\sqrt{x+5}-3$, which can be written as the following: $$\begin{matrix} \frac{\sqrt{x+5}-3}{x-4}\\\\ =\frac{\left(\sqrt{x+5}-3\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{\left(\sqrt{x+5}\right)^2-3^2}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{\left(x+5\right)-9}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{x+5-9}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{x+(5-9)}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{x+(-4)}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{x-4}{\left(x-4\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{1}{\left(1\right)\left(\sqrt{x+5}+3\right)}\\\\ =\frac{1}{\sqrt{x+5}+3}\\\\ \end{matrix}$$ Now, onto the plug and play with the limitation of $$\frac{1}{\sqrt{x+5}+3}$$ Since the limit is when "x is approaching 4", which also means $x=4$, this means the following: $$\begin{matrix} _{x\rightarrow 4}^{\lim}\textrm{f(x)}&=\frac{1}{\sqrt{x+5}+3}\\\\ &=\frac{1}{\sqrt{(4)+5}+3}\\\\ &=\frac{1}{\sqrt{9}+3}\\\\ &=\frac{1}{3+3}\\\\ &=\frac{1}{6} \end{matrix}$$ Since the limit has an undefined point at $(4,y)$ and $_{x\rightarrow 4}^{\lim}\textrm{f(x)}=\frac{1}{6}$, which means that the (official) undefined point, or hole, at $$(4,\frac{1}{6})$$ with the graph plotted down below. So, since the domain is how the $x$-values range from left to right and since $(4,\frac{1}{6})$ being the undefined point, that would means that the domain is from both $5\:to\:4$ and $4\:to\: \infty$, which means it can be written as the following: $$[-5,4) \cup (4, \infty)$$
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