Double limit

Calculus Level 3

lim x , y ( 0 , 0 ) x y x 2 + y 2 = ? \large{\displaystyle \lim_{x,y \to( 0,0)}\frac{xy}{x^2+y^2}=\, ? }

0 Limit doesn't exist 1

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2 solutions

Isaac Buckley
Jan 13, 2016

What we can do is make a substitution. We let x = r cos ( θ ) x=r\cos(\theta) and y = r sin ( θ ) y=r\sin(\theta) .

Now instead of writing lim x , y 0 , 0 \lim_{x,y \to 0,0} we can replace it with lim r 0 \lim_{r\to 0} .

lim x , y 0 , 0 x y x 2 + y 2 = lim r 0 r 2 cos ( θ ) sin ( θ ) r 2 = lim r 0 cos ( θ ) sin ( θ ) = cos ( θ ) sin ( θ ) \large \lim_{x,y \to 0,0} \frac{xy}{x^2+y^2}= \lim_{r \to 0}\frac{r^{2}\cos(\theta)\sin(\theta)}{r^2}= \lim_{r \to 0}\cos(\theta)\sin(\theta)=\cos(\theta)\sin(\theta)

Since the limit isn't constant (i.e depends on θ \theta ) we say the limit does not exist.

Otto Bretscher
Jan 13, 2016

Along the line x = 0 x=0 the value is 0, but along the line x = y x=y the value is 1 2 \frac{1}{2} , so that this limit fails to exist.

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