this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 56 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It’s been a while… but isn’t that negative?

Or is there some default given of which side it’s approaching from.

[–] LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de 40 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I think it is not defined. It has a limes from the left (- inf) and limes from the right (+ inf) but no two-sided limes.

Edit: wolframalpha agrees but I don't know for sure

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It has a limes from the left… and limes from the right…

Is that the Tootsie Roll Theorem?

[–] abbadon420@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You put the lime on the coconut and drink it all up.

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

You put the lime in the coconut. You're such a silly woman.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

No kink shaming!

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, it would have to be defined as a one-sided limit.

[–] SculptusPoe@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

(Just including the graph for reference. I'm not sure it helps with proper description or the answer the teacher was asking for, but you can see that from one direction it goes negative as you approach 8 and from the other it goes to positive infinity.)

[–] JustAPenguin@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I have a BA in Mathematics. The limit is indeed determined by the direction you approach the limiting value.

When given without specification, the limit is implied to come from the left, meaning it increases towards the limiting value, which is why you see +inf.

[–] rooroo@feddit.org 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah but then it should be negative infinite, cause if x<8 the fraction is negative.

[–] JustAPenguin@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah, I misread the - as a +. You're correct! Sorry, I just woke up and am in the middle of my morning doomscrolling sesh

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 5 points 2 weeks ago

Conveniently modeled with the same limit.

Though I'm not sure what negative doom is and what happens when it approaches infinity.

[–] carmo55@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

This is just not true. The normal limit we have here means a limit would have to exist from both directions and they should be equal. They're not, so the limit doesn't exist.

One-sided limits would be denoted by x -> 5– and x -> 5+ or similar.

PS: in complex analysis, there is no distinction between +infty and -infty, so there it would be correct to say the function has limit infty at 5.

[–] JustAPenguin@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

You're right. But in this case, which is the case I was referring to, there is no two sided limit. It is discontinuous. It is in this case which I was referring to. Sorry for not being clear.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It should be +/-∞

Minus or plus depending on the side from which you approach the limes.

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Infinity limes? After all these years, this meme starts to make sense: Limes