Infinite crossings

Calculus Level 4

The graph of f ( x ) = s i n ( 1 x ) f(x) = sin(\frac 1 x) gets a little...crazy near x = 0 x=0 . Specifically, the graph of f ( x ) f(x) has an infinite number of zero-crossings (roots, or values of x x such that f ( x ) = 0 f(x) = 0 ) between the first one at x = 1 π x=\frac{1}{\pi} and x = 0 x=0 .

Let x n x_n be the n t h n^{th} zero-crossing of the function f ( x ) f(x) , where x 1 = 1 π x_1 = \dfrac{1}{\pi} , and x 2 = 1 2 π x_2 = \dfrac{1}{2\pi} and so on in the negative direction. Also let f ( x ) = d f ( x ) d x f'(x)=\dfrac{df(x)}{dx} .

Find lim n f ( x n + 1 ) f ( x n ) \displaystyle \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{f'(x_{n+1})}{f'(x_n)}

Image credit: Wolfram Alpha
1 1 π 2 \pi^2 1 -1 π 2 -\pi^2 π \pi

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